IRLF 


SB    5fi5 


• 


sum- 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


GIFT  OF 


DANIEL    C.     OILMAN 


( 


ECCE    CGELUM; 

OB, 

PARISH  ASTRONOMY. 


SIXTH  EDITION. 


SUPPLEMENTARY  EXTRACTS, 

From  the  Theological  Eclectic,  [Edited  by  Professor  Day,  Schaff,  etc.} 

"  The  style  is  remarkably  graphic  and  elastic,  and  the  matter  is 
so  skilfully  grouped  and  lucidly  stated  as  to  be  level  to  all  classes 
of  readers.  The  writer  has  a  rare  gift  at  popularizing  science, 
and  his  book  deserves  the  wide  welcome  it  has  received." 

From  the  New  York  Observer. 

"  We  have  never  yet  seen  a  volume  on  Astronomy  that  seemed 
to  us  to  explain  more  intelligently,  to  ordinary  minds,  the  visible 
phenomena  of  the  heavenly  bodies." 

From  the  Congregationalist. 

"  We  advise  all  our  readers  who  have  not  yet  read  the  book 
entitled  '  Ecce  Crelum,'  to  embrace  "heir  earliest  opportunity  to 
do  so, — a  book  which  certainly  has  been  surpassed  by  nothing 
of  this  general  line,  for  many  years,  if  ever.  There  is  a  grandeur 
of  conception — an  easy  grasp  of  great  facts — a  clear  apprehen- 
sion of  deep  and  subtle  relations — a  power  to  see,  and  make 
others  see,  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  heavenly  movements, 
such  as  are  altogether  wonderful.  Many  works  have  been  writ- 
ten from  time  to  time  to  popularize  astronomy — to  bring  its 
great  leading  features  within  the  compass  of  unscientific  minds. 
But  we  do  not  know  of  a  work  in  which  this  has  been  so  finely 
done  as  in  '  Ecce  Coslum.'  Six  lectures  of  about  an  hour  each, 
tell  the  story,  and  the  reader  feels,  all  the  while,  as  if  he  were 
upon  a  triumphal  march.  He  is  upborne  and  sustained  by  his 


guide,  so  that  he  has  no  sense  of  labor  and  weariness  on  the 
journey.  The  last  chapter,  on  '  The  Author  of  Nature,'  is  a 
most  worthy  and  fitting  close  to  the  book.  We  wish  it  could  be 
read  by  that  great  host  of  so-called  scientific  men,  who  are  delv- 
ing away  in  the  mines  of  nature,  with  thoughts  and  purposes 
materialistic  and  half  atheistic.  They  need  the  tonic  of  such 
Christian  thinking  as  this." 

From  Hours  at  Some. 

"  This  little  book,  from  the  pen  of  Rev.  E.  F.  Burr,  D.D.,  has 
already  been  noticed  extensively  and  pronounced  a  *  remarkable 
book '  by  our  best  critics.  The  author  first  delivered  the  sub- 
stance of  it  to  his  own  people  in  familiar  lectures.  It  presents  a 
clear  and  succinct  resume  of  the  sublime  teachings  of  astronomy, 
especially  as  related  to  natural  religion.  The  theme  is  an  in- 
spiring one,  and  the  author  is  master  of  his  subject,  and  handles 
it  with  rare  tact,  and  succeeds  as  few  men  have  ever  done  in 
giving  an  intelligent  view  of  the  wonders  of  astronomy,  accord- 
ing to  the  latest  researches  and  discoveries.  It  is  indeed  an 
eloquent  and  masterly  production." 

from  Harper's  Monthly. 

"  The  title  page  of  '  Ecce  Coelum '  is  the  poorest  page  in  the 
book.  We  have  seen  nothing  since  the  days  of  Dr.  Chalmer's 
Astronomical  Discourses  equal  in  their  kind  to  these  six  simple 
lectures.  By  an  imagination  which  is  truly  contagious  the 
writer  lifts  us  above  the  earth  and  causes  us  to  wander  for  a 
time  among  the  stars.  The  most  abstruse  truths  he  succeeds  in 
translating  into  popular  forms.  Science  is  with  him  less  a  study 
than  a  poem,  less  a  poem  than  a  form  of  devotion.  The  writer 
who  can  convert  the  Calculus  into  a  fairy  story,  as  Dr.  Burr  has 
done,  may  fairly  hope  that  no  theme  can  thwart  the  solving 
power  of  his  imagination.  An  enthusiast  in  science,  he  is  also 
an  earnest  Christian  at  heart.  He  makes  no  attempt  to  recon- 
cile science  and  religion,  but  writes  as  with  a  charming  ignor- 
ance that  any  one  had  ever  been  so  absurdly  irrational  as  to 
imagine  that  they  were  ever  at  variance." 

From  the  Evangelist. 

"  We  have  had  many  inquiries  in  regard  to  the  authorship  of 
'Ecce  Coelum,'  the  volume  noticed  somewhat  at  length  two 


weeks  since.  To  save  writing  a  number  of  letters,  we  may  say 
here,  that  the  Country  Pastor,  who  is  the  author  of  these  six 
Lectures  on  '  Parish  Astronomy,'  is  the  Kev.  E.  F.  Burr,  D.D., 
of  Lyme,  Ct.  The  book  is  an  16mo  of  about  two  hundred 
pages,  but  in  that  small  compass  it  comprises  the  results  of  long 
study,  and  will  be  found  as  instructive  as  it  is  eloquent.  The 
grandest  truths  are  made  level  to  the  plainest  understanding. 
We  took  it  up,  expecting  little  from  its  humble  pretensions,  but 
soon  found  that  it  was  all  compact  with  scientific  knowledge, 
yet  glowing  with  religious  faith,  and  were  not  surprised  that  Dr. 
Bushnell  should  say  he  *  had  not  been  so  fascinated  by  any  book 
for  a  long  time — never  by  a  book  on  that  subject ' — and  that  it 
had  given  him  '  a  better  idea  of  astronomy  than  he  ever  got  be- 
fore from  all  other  sources.'  We  don't  know  if  they  have  many 
such  ministers  '  lying  around  '  in  the  country  parishes  of  Con- 
necticut, but  if  so  it  must  be  a  remarkable  State. 

"  While  the  impression  of  this  fascinating  volume  is  fresh  in 
mind,"  etc. 

From  Eev.  G.  W.  Andrews,  D.D.,  President  of  Marietta  College. 

"  The  author  has  succeeded  admirably  in  his  attc  mpt  to  pre- 
sent the  great  facts  of  Astronomical  Science  in  such  form  as  to 
be  intelligible  to  those  who  have  not  gone  through  with  a 
thorough  mathematical  training,  and  to  make  them  intensely  in- 
teresting to  all  classes  of  readers.  I  cannot  express  more  strong- 
ly the  interest  the  volume  excited  than  by  saying  that  I  read 
through  at  once.  I  can  hardly  remember  when  I  have  done  the 
same  with  another  work." 

From  Rev.  Edwin  Hall,  D.D.,  President  of  Auburn  Theological  Seminary. 
"I  received  it  last  night,  and  have  read  it  through  with  intense 
interest  and  delight.  It  is  a  worthy  book  on  a  mighty  theme. 
I  wish  it  might  be  in  every  household,  and  read  by  everybody. 
And  I  am  sure  it  will  be  read  with  admiration  and  wonder  long 
after  the  author  shall  have  been  gathered  to  his  fathers." 

From  Rev.  Prof.  E.  W.  Hooker,  D.  D. 

"  The  book  is  an  admirable  argument  from  the  discoveries  of 
modern  Astronomers,  for  the  existence  of  God ;  and  indirectly 
for  the  truth  of  the  Gospel.  It  is  an  honor  to  his  kindred,  to  the 


Church   and   the  place  of  his  birth,   and,  above  all,  to  Him 
whose  gospel    he  preaches." 

From  an  Obituary  of  Rev.  S.   L.  Pomroy,  D.D.,  late  Secretary  of  the 
A.  B.  C.  F.  M. 

"  He  was  a  man  of  extensive  information,  a  ripe  scholar,  and  he 
retained  his  scholarly  habits  and  tastes  to  the  last.  A  few  weeks 
since  he  read  '  Ecce  Coelum'  with  great  pleasure  and  satisfaction. 
When  he  returned  it  he  remarked,  '  I  have  read  it  all  twice, 
parts  of  it  three  times,  and  have  noted  down  certain  passages.' 
He  was  specially  delighted  with  the  arrangement  of  the  work — 
the  grouping  of  the  different  systems  so  as  to  give  us  something 
like  a  comprehensive  idea  of  the  grand  whole." 


PATER  MUNDI ; 


MODERN  SCIENCE  TESTIFYING- 

—TO  THE— 

FATHER  IN  HEAVEN, 

IN  TWO  VOLUMES, 

—BY  THE— 

AUTHOR    OF    "ECCE    CCELUM," 

WILL    SOON    BE    PUBLISHED. 


PATER    MUNDI; 


OR, 


MODERN   SCIENCE  TESTIFYING  TO   THE 
HEAVENLY   FATHER. 

BEING 
IN  SUBSTANCE 

LECTURES  DELIVERED  TO   SENIOR  CLASSES  IN 
AMHERST  COLLEGE. 


BY 

REV.  E.  F.  BURR,  D.  D., 
H 

AUTHOR   OF   "ECCE  OELUM." 


3>7)[i7}  6'  OVTU;  Trafnrav  anoli'kuTcu,  rjvnva    ro^Aot 
Aaol  <t>7j[ii£ovoi-  Qeof  vv  rif  eori  KOI  avrrj. 

Hesiod. 


IN  TWO  VOLUMES. 
VOL.  I. 


BOSTON: 
NICHOLS   AND   NOYES, 

No.  117  WASHINGTON  STREET. 
1870. 


i/,/, 


Entered  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1869,  by 

NICHOLS  AND  NOYES, 
in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


RIVERSIDE,  CAMBRIDGE: 

STEREOTYPED  AND  PRINTED  BY 

H.  O.  HOUGHTON  AND  COMPANY. 


PATER  MUNDI. 


A  NEW  BOOK 

BY  THE  AUTHOR  OF  "ECCE  CGELUM." 

The  thousands  who  have  been  fascinated  by  the  "  brilliant  pen 
photographs  of  the  Wonders  of  the  Heavens,"  as  presented  in 
"  Ecce  Crelum,"  will  eagerly  welcome  a  new  and  equally  attrac- 
tive volume  from  the  same  source.  The  new  work"  is  entitled  : — 

PATER  MUNDI; 

-?>»,- 

MODERN  SCIENCE  TESTIFYING^ 

— TO  THE — 

HEAVENLY  FATHER, 

IN  TWO  VOLUMES. 

The  First  Series  is  now  ready.  Tinted  paper,  300  pp.  12mo. 
Price,  $1.50. 

The  Publishers  solicit  general  attention  to  this  new  work. 
The  claims  of  atheism  to  the  name  of  Science  are  becoming  ex- 
ceedingly frequent  and  bold,  and  are  industriously  pressed  on 
the  attention  of  all  classes.  Let  those  who  would  see  for  them- 
selves how  little  ground  there  is  for  such  claims,  read  these 
volumes :  and  let  all  who  wish  well  to  the  popular  faith,  and  our 
holy  religion,  and  the  safety  of  society,  aid  their  circulation  to 
the  utmost.  Though  written  for  a  College  and  with  scientific 
thoroughness,  they  are  believed  to  be  easy  and  luminous  reading 
for  all  the  people.  So  let  all  the  people  have  them. 

It  is  believed  that  the  present  wide-spread  and  increasing  interest 
in  the  subject,  together  with  the  signal  ability,  clearness  and  force 
with  which  it  is  presented  in  the  present  work,  cannot  fail  to 
attract  all  classes  of  readers. 


To  give  a  fuller  idea  of  the  scope  of  the  work,  the  following 
extract  from  the  preface  is  here  given. 

"  The  speculations  of  scientific  men  are  one  thing,  Science  itself 
is  another.  While  the  former  are  just  now  noticeably  adverse 
to  religion,  the  latter  is  at  all  times  full  of  proofs  and  illus- 
trations of  a  Divine  Author  of  Nature.  Especially  is  this 
true  of  the  more  recent  Science.  It  does  homage  to  God.  It  is 
His  bright-eyed  and  eloquent  interpreter.  It  stands  and  points 
at  Him  with  a  thousand  straining  index  hands.  Instead  of  being 
that  bold-faced  and  victorious  antagonist  which  some  choose  to 
claim,  it  is  His  most  leal  and  serviceable  subject.  So  much  I 
propose  to  show  in  these  volumes. 

The  general  object  is  sought  in  two  ways — first,  by  scientifi- 
cally reconstructing  the  form  of  natural  theology  to  meet  ihe 
wants  of  the  age;  second,  by  deriving  the  material  of  the  new 
form  from  the  more  modern  and  valuable  branches  of  Natural 
Science. — The  currents  of  unbelief  have  changed  their  directions, 
The  wind  sets  from  a  new  quarter.  The  assault  that  once  came 
from  the  right  now  comes  from  the  left.  Objections  once  put 
forward  with  triumphant  air  have  ceased  to  be  mentioned,  and 
objections  once  brought  against  one  point  are  now  brought 
against  another.  So  a  readjustment  of  the  theistic  defences  has 
become  necessary.  It  is  proposed  in  this  work  to  make  such  re- 
adjustment. But  this  is  not  all  that  is  proposed.  It  were  an 
unnecessarily  meager  undertaking — that  of  enabling  Religion  to 
make  good  the  defensive.  She  is  able  to  do  amazingly  better. 
Her  arsenal  is  full  to  overflowing,  her  forces  are  many  and 
mighty,  and  she  is  able  to  go  victoriously  forth  from  her  inex- 
pugnable stronghold  on  a  hundred  easy  highways  which  Mod- 
ern Science  has  cast  up  for  her  benefit.  As  never  before,  the 
time  has  come  when  '  the  invisible  things  of  Him  are  clearly 
seen,  being  understood  from  the  things  that  are  made,  even  His 
eternal  power  and  Godhead ;  so  that  they  are  without  excuse.' " 

The  substance  of  these  new  volumes  has  been  delivered  as 
lectures  to  successive  Senior  Classes  in  Amherst  College ;  also, 
in  part,  before  the  Scientific  Department  in  Yale  College.  They 
have  already  elicited  favorable  criticism  from  most  eminent 
sources. 


From  the  Congregationalist. 

The  author  of  "  Ecce  Cesium"  has,  during  the  year,  delivered 
a  course  of  lectures  to  the  Senior  Class  at  Ainherst,  on  the  Rela- 
tions of  Science  to  Religion.  They  have  been  most  warmly  re- 
ceived both  by  Professors  and  Students. 

From-  the  Boston  Traveller. 

The  Trustees  of  Amherst  College,  at  their  recent  session, 
passed  a  vote  of  thanks  to  Rev.  E.  F.  Burr,  D.  D.,  Author  of 
"  Ecce  Coelum,"  for  his  "  admirable  Lectures  on  the  Scientific 
Evidences  of  Religion." 

From  Rev.  Prof.  C.  S.  Lyman,  of  Tale  College. 

All  whom  I  have  heard  speak  of  these  lectures  have  expressed 
for  them  the  highest  admiration.  In  thought  and  diction  they 
are  worthy  of  Chalmers. 

From  the  Rev.  W.  A.  Stearns,  D.D.,  L.L.D.,  President  of  Amherst  College. 

I  have  heard  them  with  the  deepest  interest.  They  are  so 
clear,  so  logical,  so  rich  in  illustration,  so  unexceptionable  and 
beautiful  in  style,  and  so  conclusive  in  the  argument  attempted, 
that  I  have  profoundly  admired  them.  Those  gentlemen  who 
heard  them  when  delivered  here,  would,  I  am  sure,  from  the 
comments  which  they  made  upon  them,  agree  with  me  entirely 
in  the  judgment  I  have  expressed.  May  the  Great  Being  whose 
existence  these  lectures  so  nobly  defend  from  the  attacks  of  the 
foolish,  though  calling  themselves  scientists  and  philosophers 
spare  the  life  of  the  author  and  enable  him  to  complete  the  full 
course  of  thinking  on  which  he  has  so  triumphantly  entered  and 
advanced. 

Sent  post-paid  on  receipt  of  the  price,  by 

NICHOLS  &  NOYES,  Publishers, 

117  Washington  Street, 


TO  THE 

HEAVENLY   FATHER, 

TO  WHOM  WE  DEDICATE  OUR  SABBATHS,   OUR  SANCTUARIES, 
AND  OURSELVES, 

SC&ese  Volumes, 

IN  ILLUSTRATION  OF  HIS  BEING  AND  GREAT>  ESS, 
ARE  REVERENTLY  INSCRIBED. 


PREFACE. 


THE  whole  plan  of  the  author  looks  beyond  the 
present  volumes.  It  proposes  to  defend  and  illus- 
trate both  Theism  and  Christianity  from  the  side  of 
Modern  Science.  This  accounts  for  the  structure 
of  the  first  two  lectures. 

In  the  second  volume  the  appeals  to  the  Sciences 
will  be  found  more  direct  and  full  than  even  in 
this  —  especially  as  negativing  that  Law  Scheme 
which  is  the  only  present  competitor  of  Theism  as 
an  explanation  of  Nature. 

These  lectures  were  designed  to  bt  spoken  to 
College  Classes  on  the  eve  of  graduation.  Hence 
some  peculiarities.  They  speak  to  the  ear.  They 
speak  to  the  young.  They  speak  to  educated  young 
men  who  may  be  presumed  familiar  with  general 
classical  as  well  as  scientific  knowledge  ;  and  whom 
it  is  of  the  last  importance  to  have  go  forth  into 
the  world  richly  assured  of  the  exceeding  breadth 
of  the  Christian  Foundations,  and  richly  prepared  to 
manifest  them  to  all  unbelievers.  So  the  lectures 
are  zealous  for  a  side.  They  are  anxious  to  carry 


vi  PREFACE. 

a  point.  They  appear  not  to  have  discovered  that 
one  must  be  indifferent  in  order  to  be  fair.  They 
affect  no  philosophic  impartiality  ;  but  speak  as  a 
Christian  believer,  to  the  sons  of  Christian  parents, 
and  within  a  Christian  college  which  has  not  yet 
thought  it  necessary  to  teach  neutrality  (or  worse) 
between  Christianity  and  Buddhism,  from  chairs  rest- 
ing on  Christian  endowments. 

The  author  states  some  things  very  strongly.  But 
he  does  not  suppose  himself  to  have  stated  them 
more  strongly  than  facts  warrant.  He  feels  very  hos- 
tile to  Atheism.  He  holds  it  the  worst  enemy  of 
mankind.  Its  recent  attempts  to  shelter  itself  under 
the  great  name  of  Science  greatly  move  his  indig- 
nation. He  is  amazed  at  its  effrontery  in  claiming 
that  a  single  true  science  looks  on  it  with  favor. 
At  the  same  time  he  aims  to  be  just,  even  to 
Satan.  What  he  would  gladly  destroy  in  the  inter- 
est of  humanity,  he  would  only  destroy  by  the  lawful 
use  of  lawful  weapons. 

The  larger  part  the  sixth  lecture  has  been  pub- 
lished before.  But  as  it  properly  belongs  to  this 
course  of  lectures,  and  as  the  omission  of  it  would, 
in  the  author's  view,  mar  the  symmetry  of  his  gen- 
eral plan,  he  has  thought  best  to  insert  it  in  its 
proper  place. 

LYME,  CONN.,  Nov.  30,  1869. 


CONTENTS. 


I.  EXPERIMENTAL  METHOD. 

1.  ILLUSTRATIONS 9 

2.  APPLICATION  TO  RELIGION n 

3.  RELIGIOUS  VALUE 19 

II.    ARGUMENTATIVE  METHOD. 

1.  POSSIBILITY 29 

2.  PROPRIETY 35 

3.  PROFIT 38 

III.  APPLICATION  OF  THE  ARGUMENTATIVE  METHOD. 

1.  PRINCIPLES 53 

2.  THESIS 59 

3.  FIRST  OBJECTION  — NATURA  SUFFICIT     .       .        .        .64 

4.  SECOND  OBJECTION  — MACULA 67 

IV.   MACULAE. 

1.  SECOND  OBJECTION  CONTINUED 81 

2.  PATERNAL  ANALOGIES 83 

3.  LAW  OF  THE  INFINITE 99 

4.  LAW  OF  CONSCIENCE 101 

5.  LAW  OF  PATERNITY 103 

6.  LAW  OF  CHARITY .        .  106 

7.  LAW  OF  THE  GENERAL  RULE 108 

8.  TOTAL  SCIENTIFIC  IMPORT 1x4 


iv  CONTENTS. 

V.   IN  TENEBRIS. 

I.    THIRD  OBJECTION 119 

».    NARROW  INTELLIGENCE 119 

3.  FRAIL  BODY 121 

4.  FRAIL   REASON 123 

5.  FRAIL   SENSIBILITY 126 

6.  DEPRAVITY .  132 

7.  TOTAL  SCIENTIFIC  IMPORT 138 

VI.   HARMONIES  WITH  NATURE. 

1.  VASTNESS 157 

2.  VARIETY  IN  UNITY 161 

3.  FINISH  OF  MINIMA 166 

4.  WISDOM 169 

5.  DYNAMICS 175 

6.  RELATION  TO  LAW 180 

7.  RELATION  TO  TIME  AND   MOTION 186 

8.  MYSTERY 191 

9.  TOTAL  SCIENTIFIC  IMPORT 196 

VII.    NEED  OF  GOD. 

1.  POLARITIES  OF  CHARACTER 203 

2.  PRACTICAL  INFLUENCE  OF  FAITH 208 

3.  DIRECT  DIVINE  ACTION 223 

4.  TOTAL  SCIENTIFIC  IMPORT 228 

VIII.  THEISM  AS  A  SCIENTIFIC  HYPOTHESIS. 

x.    PERFECTLY  SUFFICIENT 257 

2.  AS  CREDIBLE,   A  PRIORI 258 

3.  SIMPLEST 261 

4.  SUREST 268 

5.  SAFEST 271 

6.  SUBLIMEST 274 

7.  SUITED  BEST  TO  HUMAN  CONVICTIONS  AND  TRA- 

DITIONS        276 

8.  TOTAL  SCIENTIFIC  IMPORT   .  .  286 


I. 
EXPERIMENTAL  METHOD. 


e  /AC  xat 
KaXws  av  orot  6  ©cos  AVTOS  ^vAAa/x)8avoi.  —  7%z/<7. 


I.  EXPERIMENTAL  METHOD. 

x.    ILLUSTRATIONS .9 

2.  APPLICATION  TO  RELIGION    .  « 

3.  RELIGIOUS  VALUE 19 


FIRST  LECTURE. 


EXPERIMENTAL  METHOD. 

THERE  are  two  ways  in  which  men  assure  them- 
selves of  the  qualities  of  material  objects.  One 
is  the  way  of  argument :  the  other  is  that  of  direct 
personal  experiment.  A  man  of  reputation  tells 
me  that  a  certain  sort  of  wood  is  tough,  flexible,  and 
hard  ;  or  I  see  it  extensively  used  for  purposes  to 
which  these  qualities  are  essential ;  or  the  general 
appearance  and  arrangement  of  the  fiber,  I  find, 
are  the  same  as  in  other  woods  known  to  have  these 
qualities  —  these  are  so  many  arguments  from 
which  in  a  way  of  inference  my  mind  reaches  a 
belief  in  the  toughness,  flexibility,  and  hardness  of 
that  wood.  But,  if  I  choose,  I  may  reach  the  same 
belief  in  another  way.  I  may  strike  my  own  ham- 
mer on  that  wood,  and  see  what  resistance  it  makes 
to  indentation.  I  may  take  it  into  my  own  hands 
and  try  to  bend  it.  I  may  with  my  own  fingers  or 
wedges  attempt  to  tear  it  asunder.  Thus  by  a 
direct  personal  trial,  and  not  at  all  in  the  way  of 


10  FIRST  LECTURE. 

argumentative  inference,   I  may  convince  myself 
that  the  wood  is  what  it  is  claimed  to  be. 

In  the  same  twofold  way  we  may  satisfy  our- 
selves of  the  existence  of  certain  spiritual  qualities. 
Is  your  acquaintance  generous,  is  he  honest,  is  he 
capable  ?  You  may  argue  out  an  answer  for  your- 
self, or  you  may  obtain  it  by  the  personal  applica- 
tion of  certain  practical  tests.  Honest?  Yes,  you 
may  say,  for  it  is  an  honest  family  to  which  he  be- 
longs, and  I  know  that  from  childhood  he  has  had 
instruction  and  training  fitted  to  make  an  honest 
man.  Besides,  he  bears  a  good  reputation  for  hon- 
esty. Those  with  whom  he  has  had  dealings  speak 
well  of  him.  This  is  argument.  A  judgment  is 
reached  inferentially  from  other  judgments  or  facts. 
But  there  is  such  a  thing  as  your  making  a  direct 
experiment  on  the  man  which  will  settle  the  ques- 
tion of  his  honesty  to  your  mind  without  help  from 
any  other  quarter.  Put  in  his  way  an  opportunity 
of  taking  some  small  unfair  advantage  of  you  with 
apparently  entire  safety,  and  see  what  he  will  do 
with  it.  Try  him  again  and  again  at  a  variety  of 
points,  and  watch  how  he  carries  himself  under 
the  temptation.  This  will  finally  show  you  what 
the  man  is  —  perhaps  will  show  you  that  his 
word  is  as  good  as  a  bond,  and  that  you  might  ven- 
ture to  trust  him  with  every  dollar  you  are  worth. 
You  have  personally  experimented  upon  him  in  time 
Baconian  and  scientific  way,  and  found  him  trust- 
worthy  in  the  last  degree.  With  your  own  hands 


APPLICATION  TO  RELIGION.  11 

you  have  applied  the  acid  to  what  men  call  gold, 
and  have  found  that  gold  it  really  is.  See  how  the 
metal  shines  under  the  nitric  drop  ! 

Suppose,  now,  that  our  inquiries,  instead  of  relat- 
ing to  attributes  of  matter  or  attributes  of  the 
human  soul,  relate  to  that  still  higher  plane  of 
thought,  the  attributes  of  God  and  His  Word  — 
say  the  reality  of  the  Christian  God  and  the  divinity 
of  the  Christian  Scriptures.  Have  we  still  the 
same  two  ways  of  information  that  are  universally 
allowed  in  dealing  with  those  questions  of  the  lower 
order  ?  Can  we  properly  argue,  and  can  we  prop- 
erly experiment  also  ?  The  first  question  I  re- 
serve to  be  answered  in  the  next  lecture  :  the  sec- 
ond I  propose  to  answer  now,  because  I  regard  it  as 
primary  in  its  character.  I  repeat,  can  we  and 
may  we  pat  things  of  such  great  names  and  au- 
gust claims  as  the  Christian  God  and  the  Christian 
Scriptures  under  substantially  just  such  direct  prac- 
tical tests  as  show  us  that  a  given  wood  is  hard, 
and  a  given  man  honest  ?  This  question  is  an  in- 
teresting one  —  for  the  reasons  that  the  radical  ex- 
perimental method  is  found  so  enormously  powerful 
and  fruitful  in  the  lower  fields  of  inquiry,  that  we 
need  all  the  light  on  the  alleged  God  and  Revela- 
tion we  can  possibly  obtain,  and  that  there  is  more 
or  less  current  the  idea  that  it  is  not  possible,  or  at 
least  lawful,  to  deal  with  such  great  spiritual  mat- 
ters in  the  way  of  critical  experiment.  The  great 
questions  that  stand  before  the  world  from  age  to 


12  FIRST  LECTURE. 

age,  and  which  make  all  others  almost  invisible,  are 
these.  Is  God  real  ?  Are  the  Christian  Scriptures 
His  message  ?  There  are  some  in  the  world  —  we 
suppose  an  ever-decreasing  number  —  who  to  these 
questions  are  prepared  to  say,  "  No/'  or  are  not  pre- 
pared to  say,  "  Yes  "  —  disbelievers  or  unbelievers. 
Then  there  is  another  class  who  truly  believe  in 
God  and  Scripture ;  but  their  faith  is  far  from  be- 
ing as  large-limbed,  and  muscular,  and  majestic  of 
mien  as  they  could  desire.  Lastly,  there  are  those 
who  themselves  believe  almost  as  though  they  saw, 
but  who  would  like  to  communicate  something  of 
their  own  full  assurance  of  faith  to  the  many  around 
whose  condition  is  less  happy,  and  on  whom  mere 
argument  seems  so  largely  .spent  in  vain.  To  all 
these  classes  it  is  a  question  of  very  great  moment 
whether  the  field  of  religion,  like  every  other  field, 
is  open  to  the  double-handed  exploration  of  argu- 
ment and  personal  experiment  —  whether,  after 
having  exhausted  or,  what  is  much  better,  before 
touching  the  system  of  premises  and  inferences,  they 
may  not  bare  their  arms  and  go  forth  on  the  sub- 
jects of  God  and  Scripture  with  such  practical 
tests  as  shall  be  to  them  what  the  hammer  is  to  the 
wood  that  asks  to  be  considered  hard,  and  actual 
opportunities  of  safe  cheating  to  the  man  who  asks 
to  be  considered  honest.  The  idea  of  experiment- 
ing on  God  and  His  Word  may  have  at  first  quite 
an  objectionable  look.  It  looks,  perhaps,  like  irrev- 
erence and  audacity  and  desecration.  One  gets  his 


APPLICATION  TO  RELIGION.  13 

mind  filled  with  the  idea  of  coarse  mechanical  ex- 
periments and  of  the  harsh,  irreverent  ways  in 
which  they  are  sometimes  played  off  on  creature- 
natures  ;  and  when  mention  is  made  of  religious 
experiments,  the  gross  old  ideas  still  cling  about  the 
new  thought.  It  seems  as  if  nothing  of  the  kind 
would  be  allowable  out  of  the  low  realm  of  the 
commonplace  and  profane  world.  How  it  sounds 
to  talk  of  trying  experiments  on  God  and  Religion  ! 
In  answering  this  current,  or  at  least  not  unfre- 
quent,  feeling,  it  must  be  admitted  at  the  outset  that 
there  are  experiments  on  these  objects  of  which  we 
may  not  entertain  thought  for  a  moment.  They 
would  be  extreme  presumption  and  sacrilege.  Our 
instinctive  sense  of  propriety  would  revolt  from 
them  as  putting  dishonor  on  the  conception  of  a 
God  and  a  Religion.  When  the  Jews  came  to  Jesus 
on  a  certain  occasion,  saying,  "  Master,  we  would 
see  a  sign  from  thee,"  what  they  proposed  to  do 
was  then  and  there  to  try  a  direct  experiment  on 
His  miraculous  power.  The  proposal  met  a  severe 
rebuff.  If  one  of  you  should  rise  in  his  place  and 
say,  "  If  there  is  a  God,  let  Him  immediately  show 
Himself  by  casting  yonder  hill  into  the  river,"  his 
experiment  would  be  a  very  wrong  one.  If  one  of 
you  should  take  it  on  himself  to  cry  out  towards  the 
heavens,  "  If  the  religion  of  Jesus  is  divine,  let 
rain  this  moment  fall  from  a  clear  sky,"  his  experi- 
ment would  be  a  very  wrong  one.  If  he  should 
put  Liberalism  to  a  similar  test,  saying,  "  If  it  is 


14  FIRST  LECTURE. 

really  Scripture  that  God  is  Trinity  and  future 
punishment  everlasting,  let  a  plumed  angel  at  once 
appear  in  that  door- way,  and  say  so,"  his  experi- 
ment would  be  a  very  wrong  one.  All  such  tests 
are  plain  irreverence  and  presumption.  They  set 
up  our  wisdom  as  supreme,  and  presume  to  dictate 
terms  and  methods  to  God.  This  will  never  do. 
Let  the  rash  man  take  the  shoes  from  his  feet  as  he 
nears  the  place  where  perchance  God  is  concealed : 
why  must  a  voice  smite  him  with  the  information 
that  all  such  places  are  holy  ? 

Yes,  there  are  many  experiments  on  God  and 
the  Scriptures  which  would  be  highly  improper  — 
say,  if  you  please,  intolerable.  But  it  would  be  a 
great  misfortune  if,  on  glancing  at  some  of  these, 
we  should  hastily  conclude  that  everything  of  the 
sort  is  contraband.  You  cannot  properly  put  it 
upon  God,  supposed  real,  to  prove  Himself,  His 
Word,  or  any  of  its  doctrines  by  any  given  species 
or  form  of  argument,  arbitrarily  selected.  We  have 
no  right  to  instance  Ontology,  or  Physiology,  or  His- 
tory, or  Astronomy,  and  insist  upon  it  that  God 
shall  prove  Himself  by  means  of  our  favorite  science 
and  under  our  favorite  forms  of  reason.  A  God  is 
Himself  best  judge  of  what  arguments  it  will  be 
best  for  us  to  have  —  assuming  it  best  for  us  to  have 
some — and  He  is  entitled  to  choose  His  own.  It 
would  be  quite  as  presumptuous  for  us  to  dictate  to 
Him  in  this  matter,  as  it  would  be  to  dictate  to  Him 
what  experiments  he  must  submit  to  for  the  in- 


APPLICATION  TO  RELIGION.  15 

crease  of  our  faith.  But  because  it  would  be  im- 
proper for  us  to  demand  that  God  should  prove  Him- 
self to  us  by  certain  arguments  of  a  class  chosen 
by  ourselves,  we  do  not  conclude  that  all  arguments 
for  that  object  are  unlawful.  We  may  be  author- 
ized to  desire  arguments  in  favor  of  what  we  are 
called  on  to  believe ;  if  so,  we  are  authorized  to 
ask  that  they  be  sound  and  sufficient  —  only  we  are 
not  allowed  to  require  that  they  be  of  this  or  that 
sort,  or  that  they  come  to  us  in  this  or  that  way. 
So  with  these  experiments.  We  cannot  appoint  to 
God  what  arguments  for  Himself  He  shall  allow  us  ; 
nor  can  we  appoint  to  Him  what  experiments  He 
shall  allow  us.  Nevertheless,  there  may  be  good 
and  lawful  arguing  in  that  quarter  to  be  done  ;  and 
there  may  be  equally  good  and  lawful  experiment- 
ing. There  are  direct  practical  trials  of  God  and 
Scripture  which  we  can  make  for  the  benefit  of 
faith,  which  are  no  setting  up  of  our  own  wisdom, 
no  presumptuous  dictations  to  Him  who  may  prove 
to  be  the  Most  High,  no  familiar  and  irreverent  ap- 
plications of  as  it  were  hammer  and  acid  to  the 
Holy  of  Holies,  to  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  and 
even  to  Him  who  sitteth  between  the  cherubim. 
But  they  are  such  as  Faraday  and  Brewster,  rever- 
ent interpreters  of  nature,  seemed  to  be  making 
when  from  a  distance  some  disciple  watched  them 
poring  with  shaded  eyes  and  shrinking,  half-re- 
treating attitude  over  a  beam  of  light  fresh  from  the 
sun,  or  the  keen  elemental  fire  that  leaps  from  the 


16  FIRST  LECTURE. 

batteries  of  galvanism.  And  the  doings  may  all  be 
in  the  manner  of  yon  uncovered  and  hushed  physi- 
cian. Is  not  that  sick  man  of  monarchs  the  great- 
est and  best  ?  Is  he  not  the  great  warrior  and 
statesman  and  father  of  his  people  ;  and  does  not 
his  empire  kiss  at  once  sunrising  and  sunsetting, 
sweep  the  breadth  of  three  continents,  swelter  under 
the  golden  suns  of  the  Bosphorus  and  glisten  in 
perpetual  whiteness  beneath  the  frozen  pole  ?  But 
now  he  is  prostrate  ;  and  that  medical  adviser 
enters  with  bare  brow  and  muffled  step.  H^e  places 
his  finger  on  that  pulse  as  if  rose  and  sank  with  it 
the  majesty  of  a  nation's  life,  and  of  a  dynasty 
awful  with  the  glory  of  a  thousand  years.  In  the 
same  spirit  may  we  and  should  we  deal  with  these 
imperial  questions  relating  to  august  God  and  Reve- 
lation. 

The  God  and  Revelation  of  Christendom  have 
furnished  their  own  practical  tests.  They  have 
shown  us  what  experiments  they  are  willing  to 
have  us  make  on  them.  We  are  not  to  make  arbi- 
trary and  unauthorized  experiments  ;  none  what- 
ever in  a  spirit  of  lightness  or  audacity ;  but  such 
as  are  actually  furnished  in  the  Scriptures  we  may 
freely  use,  minding  to  do  all  with  a  modesty  befit- 
ting the  great  conceptions  with  which  we  deal. 

Among  these  lawful  and  actually  furnished  ex- 
periments are  the  following  —  which  I  offer,  not  in 
the  name  of  practical  religion,  but  in  the  name  of 
Modern  Science.  The  Scriptures  make  many, 


APPLICATION  TO  RELIGION.  17 

clear,  and  striking  promises  to  liberality.  Thus ; 
"  The  liberal  soul  shall  be  made  fat,  and  he  that 
watereth  shall  be  watered  also  himself.  Honor  the 
Lord  with  thy  substance  and  with  the  first-fruits  of 
all  thine  increase  ;  so  shall  thy  barns  be  filled  with 
plenty,  and  thy  presses  shall  burst  out  with  new 
wine."  "  Give,  and  it  shall  be  given  you ;  good 
measure,  pressed  down,  and  shaken  together  and 
running  over,  shall  men  give  into  your  bosom." 
And  so  on  in  wonderful  profusion.  Now,  unbeliever 
or  weak  believer,  make  an  experiment.  Be  liberal, 
and  see  whether  these  promises  are  not  fulfilled  to 
you.  See  whether  the  property,  or  what  you  are 
disposed  to  accept  as  its  full  equivalent,  does  not 
accumulate.  Then  you  will  have  put  to  a  direct 
practical  test  both  God  and  the  Scriptures  —  the 
reality  of  the  one  and  the  divinity  of  tl.e  other.  — 
Again,  it  is  written  that  if  we  pray  for  the  Holy 
Spirit  and  religious  blessings  in  general  with  sin- 
cerity and  earnestness,  they  shall  without  fail  be 
given.  For  blessings  of  this  sort  the  language  is, 
"  Ask,  and  it  shall  be  given  you ;  seek,  and  ye  shall 
find ;  knock,  and  it  shall  be  opened  to  you :  for  every 
one  that  asketh  receiveth,  and  he  that  seeketh 
findeth,  and  to  him  that  knocketh  it  shall  be 
opened."  Now,  unbeliever  or  weak  believer,  make 
an  experiment.  Perseveringly  put  your  heart  into 
prayer  for  these  blessings,  and  see  whether  they  do 
not  come.  So  will  you  put  the  alleged  revelation 
to  a  searching  practical  test,  and,  as  it  were,  bring 
3 


18  FIRST  LECTURE. 

the  reality  of  its  God  and  of  its  inspiration  within 
reach  of  the  senses.  —  Again,  it  is  written  that  they 
who  follow  conscience  faithfully  shall  in  so  doing 
come  to  something  better  than  the  light  of  nature, 
namely,  a  written  revelation  —  come  to  an  assured 
faith  in  Jesus  and  His  doctrine.  "  If  any  man  will 
do  His  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine  whether  it 
be  of  God  or  whether  I  speak  of  myself."  Now, 
unbeliever  or  weak  believer,  make  an  experiment. 
Go  to  walking  most  carefully  according  to  the  light 
you  have  on  matters  of  duty,  and  see  whether  faith 
in  the  Scripture  and  a  scriptural  God  does  not  shake 
a  freer  wing,  and  soar  nearer  the  sun,  than  ever 
before.  So  will  you  bring  religion  out  of  the  hands 
of  Plato  into  the  hands  of  Bacon ;  will  transfer  it 
from  the  dry  world  of  tradition  or  logic  into  the 
green  world  of  actual  personal  experiment ;  will,  as  it 
were,  put  it  where  your  hands  can  feel  it,  and  where, 
like  the  unbelieving  apostle,  you  can  even  put  your 
finger  into  the  print  of  the  nails,  and  thrust  your 
hand  into  the  side  of  both  natural  and  revealed  the- 
ology. Act  on  the  Bible  itself  carefully  as  a  rule  of 
life,  and  see  whether  it  does  not  most  palpably  agree 
with  your  constitution,  as  much  so  as  delicious 
water  and  bread  do  with  your  body  —  so  showing 
by  a  personal  trial  of  your  own  that  the  two  ware 
made  for  each  other  by  the  author  of  both.  You 
can  safely  make  these  practical  trials.  They  are 
not  of  your  selecting  and  dictating.  They  are 
furnished  ready  to  your  hand  by  the  parties  who 


RELIGIOUS   VALUE.  19 

are  to  be  tested  by  them.  These  parties  not  only 
consent,  but  urgently  request  to  be  tested  by  them. 
If  this  fair  offer  and  manifold  urgency  be  successful 
—  if  you  conduct  the  experiment  with  fitting  rever- 
ence, gazing  with  shaded  eyes,  and  stretching  out 
trembling,  half-retreating  hand  toward  the  possible 
Uncreated  Light  and  Celestial  Fire  that  condescend 
to  offer  themselves  to  the  criticism  of  your  experi- 
ence —  you  can,  so  says  the  alleged  and  alleging 
Religion,  if  you  are  without  faith,  get  it ;  if  you 
have  small  faith,  you  can  increase  it ;  if  your  own 
faith  is  strong  like  sight  and  you  wish  to  impart  the 
like  to  the  weak  and  the  doubting  and  the  disbeliev- 
ing around  you,  you  can  powerfully  say  to  them, 
"  Sirs,  the  truth  and  excelleucy  of  the  fundamental 
religious  doctrine,  of  the  Theism  and  the  Christi- 
anity, are  to  me  not  mere  matters  of  tradition  or 
logic,  but  matters  of  direct  personal  experiment.  I 
have,  so  to  speak,  c  tasted  and  seen  '  that  God  is, 
is  what  the  Christian  Scriptures  represent  Him,  is 
the  author  of  those  Scriptures.  Take  my  testi- 
mony, as  you  would  if  J  should  say  that  I  have 
smitten  on  this  wood  and  found  it  to  be  hard,  or 
have  put  a  drop  of  nitric  acid  on  this  metal  and 
found  it  to  be  gold." 

This  method  is  strictly  scientific.  It  is  just  as 
Baconian  as  the  process  that  has  built  up  our 
chemistry  and  our  other  natural  sciences  into 
such  admirable  splendor.  It  is  the  eldest-born  of 
the  Inductive  Philosophy;  and  if  any  claim  that 


20  FIRST  LECTURE. 

its  accent  is  that  of  the  pulpit,  I  answer  that  it  is 
equally  that  of  the  laboratory.  In  my  opinion,  any 
scheme  for  promoting  an  intellectual  faith  in  God 
and  the  Scriptures  that  does  not  include  this  Ex- 
perimental Method,  is  as  much  against  the  true 
modern  philosophy  as  against  religion.  More  than 
this  —  any  scheme  that  does  not  place  this  method 
in  the  foreground,  as  having  supreme  rank  and  as 
vastly  better  than  any  argumentative  method  can 
possibly  be  by  itself,  is  a  failure.  What  is  com- 
monly called  arguing,  namely,  the  establishing  and 
putting  together  certain  propositions,  and  then  draw- 
ing a  conclusion  from  them,  is,  no  doubt,  a  very 
useful  thing  —  nowhere,  as  we  have  in  due  time  to 
make  evident,  more  useful  than  in  the  field  of 
fundamental  religious  doctrine.  At  the  same  time 
it  ought  to  be  distinctly  professed  that  in  this  field 
no  possible  argumentative  proof  can  equal  in  some 
main  respects  its  elder  sister,  the  experimental ;  and 
that  no  actual  logic  has  equalled  it  in  point  of  suc- 
cess. Such  practical  experiments  as  I  have  men- 
tioned can  readily  be  made  by  men  of  the  narrowest 
leisure,  capacity,  and  knowledge :  their  ordinary 
pursuits  need  not  be  interfered  with  in  the  slightest. 
Not  so  with  a  large  portion  of  arguments  on  the 
same  theme.  To  be  properly  estimated,  these  re- 
quire talent,  education,  and  studious  leisure  in  no 
small  degree.  But  who  cannot  put  God  and  the 
Scriptures  on  the  test  of  this  actual  experiment  ? 
Who  so  poor,  so  weak,  so  ill  informed,  so  uncultured, 


RELIGIOUS   VALUE.  21 

so  busy  that  he  cannot  try  these  things  by  his  liberal- 
ity, by  his  prayer,  by  his  conscientious  living  ?  Such 
a  variety  of  easy  practical  methods  enables  all  the 
world  to  become  critics  in  religion.  And,  in  point 
of  fact,  many  times  as  many  converts  from  unbelief 
have  been  made  by  them  as  by  all  the  exertions  of 
logic.  I  do  not  as  yet  say  that  logic  has  any  proper 
place  within  this  field ;  but  it  has  been  widely  sup- 
posed to  have,  and  so  has  been  sent  out  in  vast 
masses  and  in  every  style  of  armament  to  conquer 
the  unbeliefs  and  disbeliefs  of  the  world.  It  has  had 
its  successes.  Spolia  opima  have  been  won.  Tri- 
umphs have  been  decreed.  But  never  such  tri- 
umphs as  have  been  granted  to  the  Experimental 
Method  —  triumphs  of  the  first  order  —  not  ova- 
tions, but  triumphs  —  triumphs  in  which  laurels 
have  waved  like  a  forest,  and  in  which  chained 
champions  and  monarchs  have  gone  in  long  pro- 
cession after  the  captive  wealth  of  empires  and 
races.  The  great  body  of  Christian  believers  in  all 
ages  have  had  no  other  rational  faith  than  such  as 

o 

they  obtained  and  maintained  by  actually  putting 
the  Christian  Religion,  with  its  God  and  inspired 
Bible,  to  the  test  of  practice  :  thus  verifying  in 
their  experience  its  adaptation  to  the  human  nature 
and  condition,  its  transforming  power,  and  the 
faithfulness  of  its  promises.  Moreover,  an  argu- 
mentative faith,  as  well  as  a  traditional  one,  is 
observed  to  have  always  a  certain  deadness  about  it 
till  it  is  supplemented  and  inspired  by  the  faith  that 


22  FIRST  LECTURE. 

comes  from  direct  personal  experiment.  The  latter, 
when  acquired,  becomes  a  soul  to  the  former.  It 
paints  its  clayey  cheek  with  speaking  vermilion.  It 
lights  up  its  lack-luster  eye  with  the  beautiful  fires 
of  thought,  and  feeling,  and  force.  Oh,  how  that 
poor  mass  of  flesh  and  blood,  by  courtesy  called 
man,  and  which  yesterday  could  not  stand  on  its 
feet  or  even  scarcely  fetch  a  breath  as  it  lay  with 
glassy  eyes  by  the  wayside  —  how  strongly  to-day 
heave  the  arches  of  its  breast ;  how  buoyantly  it 
springs  to  its  feet,  and,  with  head  uplift  to  heaven, 
plants  itself  like  a  pyramid ;  how  swiftly  now  and 
strongly  it  marches  hither  and  thither,  with  every 
feature  alive,  and  every  muscle  strung  for  doing  and 
daring !  A  soul  has  entered  the  clay.  The  form 
now  tabernacles  a  power.  Welcome,  O  great, 
beautiful,  glorious  Transformer !  No  vinous  life 
art  thou,  no  life  galvanic,  but  true  Divine  Breath, 
the  mighty  afflatus  of  actual  personal  experience 
in  religion  :  lo,  thou  hast  wrought  that  wondrous 
change,  and  made  of  the  mock  man  a  real  one  I  — 
The  proof  of  God  and  the  Scriptures  by  personal 
experiment  has  also  this  advantage  over  any  possible 
proof  by  argument ;  namely,  that  it  has  an  intrinsic 
value  of  its  own,  apart  from  its  character  as  a  means 
of  faith.  In  general,  an  argument  is  worth  nothing 
beyond  its  tendency  to  produce  faith.  But  the 
course  of  beneficence,  of  prayer,  of  conscientious 
living,  is  in  itself  always  a  mighty  blessing,  even 
were  no  religious  faith  to  result. 


RELIGIOUS  VALUE.  23 

According  to  the  Christian  system  of  religion, 
everything  depends  on  possessing  faith.  We  must 
believe  in  God,  in  the  Scriptures,  and  in  their  princi- 
pal doctrines ;  and  the  broader  and  deeper  our  belief 
is,  the  better  it  will  be  for  us.  If  we  have  a  sincere 
faith,  then  we  need  to  make  it  great ;  if  it  is  great, 
we  need  to  make  it  royal ;  if  it  is  royal,  we  need  to 
make  it  perfect ;  if  we  could  say  it  is  perfect  in  our- 
selves, we  should  still  need  to  originate  or  improve 
it  in  a  host  of  others  as  being  the  greatest  favor  we 
can  confer  upon  them.  So  that  to  all  of  us  this 
broad  method,  this  scientific  method,  of  faith  by 
means  of  personal  experiment  and  induction,  is  a 
matter  of  high  moment.  A  plentiful  use  of  it  is 
the  great  want  of  the  times.  And  we  may  be  sure 
that  quite  too  little  account  is  made  of  it,  even 
among  most  of  those  who  have  been  most  indebted 
to  it  for  such  measures  of  faith  as  they  have.  Even 
these  too  often  assume  that  all  improvement  in  this 
foundation  grace  must  proceed  in  the  way  of  argu- 
ment. If  themselves  need  to  be  stronger  believers, 
they  do  not  think  of  experimenting :  it  is  either 
waiting  for  what  the  winds  will  bring  them,  or  it  is 
arguing.  If  others  are  to  be  rid  of  their  doubts, 
they  are,  primarily  and  perhaps  solely,  to  be  argued 
with.  Here  is  a  profound  mistake.  What  at  the 
most  is  secondary,  is  made  primary.  It  is  not  the 
reason  that  is  so  much  at  fault  in  cases  of  deficient 
faith :  it  is  the  practical  part  of  us.  The  remedy 
is  not  so  much  syllogizing  as  it  is  doing.  It  is  not 


24  FIRST  LECTURE. 

argument  and  experiment  that  is  wanted:  at  the 
most  it  is  experiment  and  argument.  The  one  is 
the  lightning  that  unsolders  and  seams  the  masonry 
of  Doubting  Castle  :  the  other  is  more  like  the  bil- 
lowy and  thunderous  air  that  rolls  in  afterward, 
wave  upon  wave,  to  help  in  shaking  the  ugly 
structure  to  pieces.  The  foremost  great  thing  to  be 
done  for  our  weak-faithed  selves  and  our  weak- 
faithed  neighbors  is  to  send  them  to  school  in  the 
first  department  of  the  Inductive  Philosophy. 
They  must  be  put  up  to  that  which  in  religion  an- 
swers to  the  hammer  of  the  geologist,  the  acid  of  the 
chemist,  and  the  prism  of  the*  optician.  They 
must  personally  try  practical  tests  on  God  and 
Scripture.  They  must  take  such  tests  as  the  Chris- 
tian Deity  and  Scriptures  offer  to  be  tried  by,  and 
faithfully  and  reverently  go  into  a  sacred  experi- 
ment. This  I  have  felt  bound  to  put  forward  as 
the  leading  work  to  be  done  in  favor  of  faith.  Let 
these  men  of  scant  faith  all  around  us  try  God  and 
the  Bible  by  their  promises.  Let  them  test  these 
great  allegations  by  generous  beneficence,  by  hearty 
persevering  prayer  for  spiritual  blessings,  by  hon- 
estly endeavoring  to  go  by  the  obviously  just  rules 
of  the  Scriptures  in  all  the  every-day  walks  of  life. 
This  will  do  more  for  them  than  libraries  of  argu- 
ment could  do  without  it.  It  is  a  means  universally 
accessible,  has  done  wonders  in  its  day,  and  is  wait- 
ing at  the  gate  of  every  man  who  needs  more  faith 
than  he  has,  to  do  them  again  for  his  benefit.  It 


RELIGIOUS   VALUE.  25 

may  not  do  them  at  once  ;  it  may  render  its  proofs 
somewhat  tardily  and  amid  some  discouragements  ; 
but  it  is  according  to  experience  that  for  any 
given  man  this  method  will  accomplish  a  quicker  as 
well  as  a  stronger  faith  in  God  and  the  Scriptures 
than  any  other  method  by  itself  could  have  done 
for  him.  If  the  man  is  such  in  his  natural  turn  of 
mind  and  habits  that  it  will  take  years  at  the  Ex- 
perimental Method  to  convince  him,  he  is  such  a 
man  as  would  hardly  be  convinced  by  a  lifetime  at 
any  other  school.  But  the  crowning  thing  is  that 
the  experimentalist  is  sure  of  great  success  in  the 
end.  Whatever  the  adverse  appearances  and  long 
delays,  the  promise  that  he  shall  "  know  of  the  doc- 
trine," will  at  last  come  to  fulfillment.  He  shall 
not  die  till  his  faith  lives._  And  though,  in  some 
rare  instance,  he  should  be  tried  with  as  much  de- 
lay and  as  great  seeming  adversities  as  Joseph  had 
while  on  his  way  to  the  fulfillment  of  his  dreams 
and  the  premiership  of  Egypt,  still,  the  faith  which 
he  shall  surely  reach  at  last  shall  be  of  that  royal 
kind  that  will  plenarily  pay  for  all.  As  with  the 
Hebrew,  his  De  Profundis  shall  full  surely  become 
his  In  Excelsis. 

To  the  pit- bottom  he  sank, 

That  poor  Hebrew  lad, 
And  the  thirsty  darkness  drank 

The  light  within  him. 

"  Now  all  things  go  against  me," 

Said  that  poor  sunk  lad, 
Earth-eaten,  waiting  to  be 
Eaten  of  famine. 


26  FIRST  LECTURE. 

Up  through  the  earth-pit  dreary, 

Swung  that  poor  sold  lad 
Into  worse  pit  of  slavery, 

Arab,  Egyptian. 

"  Still  all  things  go  against  me," 

Said  that  poor  slave  lad, 

As  sun-scorched,  thought-scorched,  through  sea 
Of  sand  he  falters 

To  Misraim  —  to  be  bought, 

(Ah,  poor  chattel  lad !) 
And  wrought  with  the  lash  for  nought, 

Like  soulless  cattle. 

0  emir-sprung  and  petted, 

Now  sunk,  sold,  slave  lad! 
How  is  thy  poor  heart  fretted 

To  cry,  "  Against  me  !  " 

"  Against  me !  yes,  against,me !  " 

Not  so  poor  blind  lad ! 
Where  pain  plies  red  beak  on  thee, 
Thy  kingdom  enters. 

Fell  pit  and  master  anoint 

Thee  Pharaoh,  lad! 
Fell  pit  and  master  appoint 

Thee  chief  sheaf —  star  prince 

To  sun,  moon,  and  brother  stars, 

(0  true  dreamer  lad!) 
And  brighter  stars  whose  rays  are  bars, 

Buling  Osiris. 

So  judge  not  by  the  seeming, 

Faithward  fighting  heart! 
The  rod  that  leaves  thee  streaming, 

Will  turn  thy  scepter. 

If  thou  for  true  faith  equipt, 

Meet  pit  and  master, 
It  shall  sure  crown  thy  Egypt, 

Here  and  hereafter. 


II. 
ARGUMENTATIVE  METHOD. 

"Eroi/xoi  Se  act  TT/DOS  aTroAoyiaj/. 

*EK  roiavrr;?,  apa,  'Ap^s  -^pry/rat  17  Averts.  —  Aristotle. 


II.  ARGUMENTATIVE  METHOD. 

i.    POSSIBILITY 2g 

a.    PROPRIETY 3«. 

3-    PROFIT  38 


SECOND  LECTURE. 


ARGUMENTATIVE   METHOD. 

1HAVE  spoken  of  the  Experimental  Method  of 
proving  the  Christian  God  and  Scriptures  —  of 
its  nature,  mode  of  use,  strictly  scientific  character, 
and  paramount  place  in  a  wise  scheme  of  religious 
evidences. 

We  come  now  to  the  Argumentative  Method. 
I  ask  your  attention  to  remarks  on  its  Possibility,  its 
Propriety,  and  its  Possible  Profit. 

The  possibility  of  logically  proving  God  and 
Scripture  has  sometimes  been  questioned  on  a  pri- 
ori grounds.  On  such  grounds  some  persons  have 
questioned  the  possibility  of  proving  anything  by 
argument  —  skeptics,  who  have  doubted  not  only 
that  anything  can  be  proved,  but  that  anything  can 
be  known,  even  the  fact  that  we  can  know  noth- 
ing. The  critical  philosophers,  so  called,  with  Kant 
at  their  head,  without  going  so  far  as  this,  are  still 
decided  that  there  can  be  no  argumentative  proof 
of  supersensible  objects  —  that  is,  of  objects  not 
directly  cognizable  by  the  senses,  such  as  God 


30  SECOND  LECTURE. 

and  religion  —  and  of  course  no  logical  proof  of 
the  Christian  Scriptures  as  being  God's  message. 
Still  others,  bearing  such  names  as  Fichte,  Shelling, 
Hegel  —  the  Anti-criticalists,  Idealists,  and  Pan- 
theists, especially  of  Germany  and  France  —  declare 
that  there  may  be  arguments  to  prove  a  God,  but 
none  to  prove  such  a  God  as  the  Christian  Scrip- 
tures teach,  namely,  a  personal  God  external  to  the 
human  mind  and  distinct  from  Nature.  Well,  a 
God  who  is  a  mere  idea,  or  the  moral  order  of  the 
world,  or  the  sum  total  of  Nature,  is  no  God  at  all 
to  a  truly  English  mind,  and  can  issue  no  message. 

It  would  be  impracticable,  in  such  a  course  of  lec- 
tures as  I  propose,  to  examine  the  grounds  on  which 
these  men  rest  their  conclusions.  Fortunately  it  is 
not  necessary.  If  a  man  should  deny  the  possibility 
of  a  good  watch  on  abstract  considerations,  our 
best  method  of  dealing  with  him  would  be  to  show 
him  such  a  watch.  If  some  Dr.  Lardner  should 
deny  the  possibility  of  crossing  the  Atlantic  by 
steam,  the  most  satisfactory  reply  possible  would  be 
to  embark  him  in  one  of  the  hundred  steamers 
plying  between  the  two  hemispheres,  and  actually 
transmit  him  to  England  by  the  impossible  method. 
So  the  best  way  of  dealing  with  such  speculations 
as  deny  or  doubt  the  possibility  of  good  arguments 
for  God  and  Scripture  is  actually  to  produce  such 
arguments.  This  is  the  way  in  which  the  Baco- 
nians effectively  answered  the  old  philosophy.  Said 
that  philosophy,  "  A  true  science  cannot  be  built 


POSSIBILITY.  31 

up  by  experiment  and  induction  :  it  must  be  done 
by  reasoning  from  general  intuitions,  and,  "  as  some 
said, "  other  general  truths  forming  the  original  furni- 
ture of  the  mind."  This  doctrine  stood  unfalteringly 
against  ages  of  skillful  dialectics.  And  it  was  not 
till  the  true  philosophers  turned  from  wasting  time 
and  strength  in  logically  combating  this  position,  to 
the  task  of  actually  building  up  the  natural  sci- 
ences in  the  way  pronounced  impossible,  that  those 
Platonists  met  their  silencing  refutation.  What 
could  a  Ptolemist  say,  with  his  eye  at  one  end  of 
Galileo's  tube  and  the  phases  of  Yenus  at  the 
other?  What  could  any  philosopher  of  the  old 
stamp  say,  in  the  presence  of  the  actual  Astronomy 
or  Chemistry ;  which,  rooted  in  observation  and  ex- 
periment, had  risen  in  the  course  of  a  few  years,  by 
mingled  induction  and  mathematics,  into  such  lofty 
and  wide-branching  majesty  of  stature  and  fruit- 
fulness  as  the  old  system  had  for  some  thousands  of 
years  been  always  promising,  and  never  even  begin- 
ning to  accomplish  ?  There  was  no  resisting  the 
eloquence  of  such  examples.  Yes,  experimental 
and  inductive  sciences  doubtless  can  be,  because 
they  are  ;  and  so  the  Platonists  amended  their  doc- 
trine of  the  impossibility  of  such  sciences  into  the 
doctrine  that  they  are  a  less  noble  and  fruitful  kind 
of  science  than  the  German  metaphysics.  Let  us 
try  to  walk  in  the  steps  of  those  fathers  of  the  In- 
ductive Philosophy.  Let  us  attempt  no  answer  to 
those  who  deny  or  doubt  the  possibility  of  good 


32  SECOND  LECTURE, 

arguments  for  God  and  Scripture,  save  the  actual 
presentation  of  such  arguments.  If  from  the  be- 
ginning, and  under  the  ablest  hands,  no  such  argu- 
ment has  ever  been  constructed,  it  would  do  little 
good  at  this  late  day  to  establish  its  abstract  possi- 
bility ;  if  one  such  argument  can  be  actually  shown, 
all  the  cloudy  speculation  against  its  possibility  will 
meet  the  most  evident  and  signal  annihilation  pos- 
sible. 

Besides  these  professional  metaphysicians  —  as 
they  were  for  the  most  part  —  some  eminent  Chris- 
tian theologians  have  denied  the  possibility  of  a  log- 
ical basis  for  religion.  Their  ground  has  been  two- 
fold. Some  have  said  that  God  and  His  written 
message  are  as  plain  facts  as  any  of  our  first  princi- 
ples, and  consequently,  according  to  well-known 
law,  can  only  be  darkened  by  questioning  and  rea- 
soning about  their  reality.  Others  state  themselves 
in  this  manner.  Reason  in  man  is  a  shattered  in- 
strument in  shattered  circumstances.  It  is  so  shat- 
tered within  and  around  that  no  reliance  can  be 
placed  on  its  verdicts  on  fundamental  religious  ques- 
tions. Look  at  that  seething  chaos  of  opinions  and 
reasonings  which  from  the  earliest  times  has  borne 
the  proud  name  of  philosophy,  and  in  which  many  a 
great  logician,  "  floating  many  a  rood,"  has  lain  be- 
wildered —  the  puerile  conceits,  the  muddy  obscu- 
rities, the  gross  contradictions  and  self-contradic- 
tions, the  stark  absurdities,  the  terrible  heresies,  on 
whose  windy  and  yeasty  bosom  reputations  and 


POSSIBILITY.  33 

schools  and  systems  have  tossed,  and  collided,  and 
gone  to  pieces!  The  adventurous  voyager,  "  through 
the  shock  of  fighting  elements,  on  all  sides  round 
environed,  wins  his  way  ;  harder  beset  and  more 
endangered  than  when  Argo  passed  through  Bos- 
phorus,  betwixt  the  justling  rocks,  or  when  Ulys- 
ses on  the  larboard  shunned  Charybdis,  and  by  the 
other  whirlpool  steered."  Behold  what  the  boasted 
reason  can  do  for  the  world  —  especially  in  radical 
discussions  !  See  —  its  very  name  has  fallen  into 
contempt !  Is  such  a  guide  to  have  our  confidence  ? 
No  !  say  these  theologians  emphatically  ;  and  they 
feel  themselves  confirmed  in  their  strong  negative  by 
the  manner  in  which  the  Scriptures  speak  of  cer- 
tain things  called  philosophies  and  wisdoms  —  de- 
claring that  the  world  by  wisdom  knows  not  God ; 
that  the  faith  of  Christians  stands  not  in  the  wisdom 
of  men,  but  by  the  power  of  God  ;  that  men  may 
be  spoiled  by  philosophy,  and  should  avoid  opposi- 
tions of  science  falsely  so-called.  Their  conclusion 
is  that  the  reason  which  some  men  deify  is  at  best 
but  a  fetich  —  that  the  true  guide  within  the  field 
of  fundamental  religious  doctrine  is  faith  ;  mean- 
ing, not  a  belief  in  God  and  Scripture  resting  on 
logical  evidence,  but  one  independent  of  such  evi- 
dence and  supernaturally  given  to  those  to  whom 
it  is  appointed,  or  who  pray  for  it  and  honestly  en- 
deavor to  follow  conscience.  This  faith  carries 
men  to  the  Bible  and  to  prayer  for  that  guidance 
3 


34  SECOND  LECTURE. 

in  opinions  and  practice  which  their  dilapidated  rea- 
son is  not  qualified  to  give. 

Men  professing  such  views  have  not  been  very 
numerous  among  Protestants.  Once  in  a  while, 
however,  they  make  their  appearance.  And  in  al- 
most all  our  communities  there  is,  I  imagine,  some 
such  vein  of  thought  silently  underlying  a  portion 
of  the  casual  reflection  on  this  subject.  But  the 
answer  is  easy.  It  is  true  that  human  reason  is  in 
a  fallen  state,  that  it  gives  no  absolute  demonstra- 
tions in  questions  not  mathematical,  that  many  of 
those  who  have  worn  its  uniform  and  carried  its 
banners  have  left  a  very  humiliating  history,  and 
that  some  of  even  its  most  gifted  sons  have  in  its 
name  played  off  most  extravagant  quixotism  and 
errantry  of  speculation.  But  how  does  one  know 
that  this  mortifying  exhibition  is  not  due,  partly  to 
the  impracticable  nature  of  some  of  the  questions 
discussed,  and  partly  to  the  improper  method  and 
spirit  in  which  most  of  them  were  examined  ?  Is 
not  the  cause  adequate  to  account  for  the  result  ? 
But  these  impugners  of  reason,  as  employed  on  the 
fundamental  religious  theory,  have  their  positive 
refutation  in  the  examples  and  precepts  of  the  Book 
which  they  acknowledge  as  the  final  arbiter  of 
every  question  on  which  it  pronounces.  The  Chris- 
tian apostles  argued  freely  with  men  in  behalf  of 
both  God  and  Christianity.  Their  habit  was  to  go 
into  the  temples,  the  markets,  the  synagogues,  and 
there  argue  for  their  cause  with  Gentile  and  Jew, 


PROPRIETY.  35 

with  atheist  and  infidel.  Especially  was  this  the 
habit  of  that  princely  logician  Paul,  who,  wherever 
he  went,  plied  the  sharp  edge  of  his  remorseless 
logic  ;  now  in  caviling  Jerusalem  on  the  scholars 
of  Gamaliel,  and  now  in  sneering  Athens  on  the 
scholars  of  Epicurus  and  Zeno.  Who  instructed 
Christians  in  the  midst  of  a  Godless  and  Christless 
age  to  be  always  ready  to  give  a  reason  of  the  hope 
that  was  in  them  —  also  to  prove  all  things,  hold- 
ing fast  that  which  is  good  ?  The  doctrine  of  the 
first  teachers  of  Christianity  evidently  was  that 
there  is  both  a  need  and  a  reliable  way  of  employ- 
ing reason  for  establishing  the  reality  of  God  and 
His  message,  and  that  the  egregious  follies  and 
blunders  that  sometimes  occur  in  the  course  of  the 
logical  process  are  to  be  set  down,  not  against  rea- 
son itself,  but  against  its  mismanagement. 

Among  some  who  allow  the  possibility  of  an 
argumentative  method,  it  is  still  a  question  whether 
such  a  method  can  properly  be  attempted  in  behalf 
of  faith.  Many  plain  Christians  are  of  this  class. 
They  have  a  strong  feeling  against  any  logical  re- 
ligion. The  sight  of  such  a  great  body  of  it  as 
some  European  libraries  show  —  thousands  of  vol- 
umes from  Plato  downward,  and  displaying  an 
amount  of  genius,  culture,  and  research  vastly 
more  considerable  than  their  number  —  such  a  sight 
would  make  on  their  minds  an  impression  of  prodig- 
ious waste,  to  say  the  least ;  waste  of  time,  money, 
pains,  faculty.  They  have  never  felt  the  need  of 


36  SECOND  LECTURE. 

such  books.  They  are  strong  in  faith  —  thanks  to 
early  training  and  the  experimental  method — 
without  any  help  from  such  a  quarter ;  and  it  is 
hard  for  them,  with  their  very  limited  acquaintance 
with  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  attacks  made  on 
Theism  and  Christianity,  to  realize  that  any  persons 
can  require  such  help,  or  be  at  all  the  better  for  it. 
Especially  is  their  feeling  strong  against  logical 
Theism.  They  say  that  the  Scriptures  assume  the 
being  of  a  God,  and  so  should  we  ;  that  at  heart 
His  reality  is  doubted  by  none,  all  show  to  the  con- 
trary notwithstanding;  that,  if  there  is  any  such 
thing  as  sincere  atheism  in  the  world,  it  uniformly 
began  and  solely  rests  in  a  bad  state  of  the  heart, 
and  so  will  not  be  reached  by  any  mere  logic,  how- 
ever conclusive  and  abundant.  The  same  things, 
mutatis  mutandis,  are  alleged  against  logical  Chris- 
tianity, though  with  somewhat  less  emphasis  and 
prominence. 

Do  the  Scriptures  assume  a  God,  and  their  own 
binding  authority  as  His  message  —  at  least  so  far 
as  argument  is  concerned  ?  In  one  sense,  yes  — 
in  another  sense,  no.  It  is  not  necessary  to  an 
argument  that  it  take  the  form  of  a  syllogism,  with 
its  major  and  minor  and  formally  drawn  conclusion. 
It  is  enough  that  such  facts  and  principles  are 
placed  before  the  mind  as  seem  to  authorize,  and 
naturally  lead  the  reason  to  make,  the  desired  in- 
ference for  itself.  This  much  the  Scriptures  do  — 
in  behalf  at  once  of  both  God  and  Revelation.  They 


PROPRIETY.  37 

attempt  to  show  in  themselves  prophecies,  miracles, 
and  supernatural  adaptations  of  various  kinds,  from 
which,  if  real,  both  Theism  and  Christianity  are 
directly  inferable  in  one  breath.  In  such  informal 
logic  as  this  they  may  be  said  to  abound.  Further, 
the  Scriptures  claim  that  Theism  is  sincerely  re- 
jected by  "  fools  who  say  in  their  heart  that  there  is 
no  God  "  —  also,  that  Christianity  is  sincerely  re- 
jected by  such  men  as  Paul,  who  u  verily  thought 
he  ought  to  do  many  things  contrary  to  the  name 
of  Jesus  of  Nazareth."  Indeed,  if  any  reliance  can 
be  placed  on  testimony  and  observation  and  the 
ordinary  laws  of  evidence,  the  cases  of  real  unbelief 
and  even  disbelief  in  a  God,  as  well  as  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, are  by  no  means  few.  Many  say  they  doubt 
or  disbelieve ;  they  do  it  with  all  facial  show  of 
sincerity  and  self-knowledge ;  above  all,  they  act  as 
if  they  disbelieved.  What  better  proof  could  we 
have  ?  As  to  such  doubt  and  disbelief,  supposed 
real,  always  finding  its  origin  and  support  solely  in 
a  bad  state  of  the  heart,  this  may  be  admitted 
without  admitting  the  inability  of  logical  religion. 
The  guilty  heart  must  operate  to  produce  and  sus- 
tain the  atheism  and  the  infidelity  by  perverting  and 
blinding  the  intellect ;  and  all  the  light  and  just 
impulses  we  give  the  intellect  are  so  much  natural 
opposition  to  this  effect,  and  may  even  work  back- 
ward toward  reclaiming  the  guilty  heart  itself. 
Thus  the  oarsman  works  his  way  up  the  river 
against  the  current ;  thus  some  potent  essence,  or 


38  SECOND  LECTURE. 

heat,  or  sound  creeps  backward  through  the  atmos- 
phere against  the  wind;  thus  summer,  beginning 
at  the  lowest  edge  of  the  glacier,  steals  drippingly 
and  destructively  upward  till  it  reaches  and  melts 
the  very  fount  of  the  icy  cataract  and  sows  flowers 
and  perfumes  around  it. 

Among  those  who  admit  the  propriety  of  argu- 
ment in  behalf  of  Theism  and  Christianity,  there  is 
great  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  amount  and 
kind  of  advantage  possible  from  it.  The  expecta- 
tions of  some  are  enormous  :  the  argumentative 
method  is  both  the  "  TTOV  O-TW  "  and  the  lever  which 
can  move  the  world.  The  expectations  of  others 
are  exceedingly  moderate ;  indeed,  so  very  moder- 
ate that  they  hardly  find  sufficient  motive  to  give 
any  thorough  attention  to  the  believing  logic,  from 
whatever  source  it  may  come.  I  have  thought  it 
desirable  at  this  stage  to  state  my  own  views  on 
this  point  —  partly  as  a  key  to  my  method  of  treat- 
ing my  subject,  and  partly  because  I  should  deem 
it  equally  unfortunate  for  any  of  you  to  come  to  the 
actual  arguments  with  expectations  either  extrava- 
gantly large  or  extravagantly  small,  as  to  the  ad- 
vantages that  may  accrue  from  them.  In  the  one 
case  you  would  be  disappointed  into  discouragement 
and  an  undervaluing  of  such  utilities  as  may  be 
found  belonging  to  the  argumentative  method ; 
in  the  other  you  would  enter  on  the  subject  with 
too  little  interest  to  give  it  proper  treatment. 

I  am  disposed  to  claim  great  utility  for  the  argu- 


PROFIT.  39 

mentative  method.  But  I  do  not  suppose  this 
utility  to  lie  mainly  in  quarters  where  many  would 
naturally  first  look  for  it.  It  does  not  lie  mainly  in 
its  power  by  itself  to  convert  atheists  and  infidels 
into  believers.  Nor  can  any  stress  be  laid  on  its 
value  as  a  means  of  weakening  the  unbelief  of  such 
persons  in  the  way  of  disputation  with  them.  We 
cannot  even  claim  for  it  that  it  is  the  leading  means 
of  sustaining  and  strengthening  faith  in  God  and 
the  Scriptures  where  such  faith  exists.  We  have 
large  admissions  to  make  against  logical  religion 
at  all  these  points.  It  is  found  in  experience  that 
religion  is  seldom  proved  to  the  satisfaction  of  men 
by  any  merely  logical  argument  whatever.  When 
men  become  theists,  they  not  only  generally  become 
such  by  a  sort  of  proof  that  accredits  to  them  Jesus 
and  the  Bible  at  the  same  time,  but  this  compre- 
hensive proof  itself  is  generally  something  besides 
syllogisms,  or  what  can  be  resolved  into  such.  It 
is  the  proof  by  the  experimental  method.  It  is 
the  proof  by  the  experimental  and  argumentative 
methods  combined  and  interleaved  —  that  com- 
posite method,  like  the  student's  classic,  whose  alter- 
nate leaves  of  a  richer  texture  than  the  rest  and  left 
blank  for  that  purpose,  give  in  his  own  hand  his  own 
personal  thoughts  and  results  ;  that  composite 
method,  like  the  illuminated  missal,  whose  every 
other  leaf  is  pictured  in  silver  and  gold  with  the 
thoughts  and  feelings  more  dimly  expressed  in  the 
neighboring  words.  The  man  feels  that  his  wants 


40  SECOND  LECTURE. 

are  not  met,  that  his  nature  is  not  fed,  by  infidelity 
and  atheism.  He  knows  it  safe  and  reasonable  and 
hopeful  to  renounce  his  sins.  He  begins  to  read 
and  act  on  the  Scriptures  as  being  a  practical  sys- 
tem in  at  least  general  accord  with  his  conscience. 
He  thus  finds  his  way  to  prayer  to  a  possible  God. 
And  the  result  of  all  is  that  at  length  he  discovers 
himself  to  be  in  possession  of  a  measure  of  faith. 
Very  likely  he  himself  hardly  knows  how  his  mind 
has  reached  this  point  ;  very  likely  he  has  at- 
tempted no  formal  study  of  Theistic  and  Christian 
evidences  —  nor  even  consciously  given  them  any 
attention  at  all ;  but  in  some  way,  certainly  not 
purely  argumentative  nor  even  chiefly  so,  his  diffi- 
culties and  doubts  have  noiselessly  thinned  away 
like  the  fogs  and  chills  from  some  morning  land- 
scape. It  is  in  some  such  way  as  this  that  unbeliev- 
ers usually  become  theists  and  Christians.  —  And 
it  is  the  great  way,  too,  of  preserving  and  increasing 
faith  where  it  exists.  The  believer  always  intensi- 
fies himself  far  more  by  conscientious  acting  than 
by  logical  arguing.  A  day's  careful  discharge  of 
duty  will  do  far  more  to  heighten  his  sense  of  the 
reality  of  God  and  of  a  Divine  Scripture  than  will 
many  a  day's  study  of  Paley,  or  any  other  writer  on 
evidences.  Instead  of  being  the  great  means  of 
producing,  supporting,  and  increasing  religious 
faith  of  any  kind,  mere  argument  deserves  no  no- 
tice in  comparison  with  the  easier  and  universally 
applicable  practical  method.  And,  further,  we  must 


PROFIT.  41 

confess  that  the  mere  argumentative  method,  when 
applied  in  the  way  of  disputation,  not  only  seldom 
removes,  but  generally  strengthens  unbelief  in  our 
opponent.  Gladiators  may  conquer,  but  must  not  be 
expected  to  convince.  A  blow  from  a  steel-glove 
rarely  makes  a  man  feel  more  amiably  toward 
either  the  person  or  principles  of  his  antagonist.- 
The  breaking  of  lances  may  be  a  very  fine  thing 
to  lookers-on  and  the  victorious  champion  :  but  it 
is  a  very  uncomfortable  and  wrathful  thing  to  the 
Templar,  as  he  rolls  in  the  dust  amid  the  blare  of 
trumpets  and  the  swarming  glances  of  tier  upon  tier 
of  the  valiant,  the  noble,  and  the  fair.  Will  he 
ever  feel  kindly  toward  the  Disinherited  Knight  or 
any  of  his  belongings  ?  Do  not  expect  it.  Rather 
expect  to  find  him  a  more  bitter  Templar  than  ever. 
And  disputation  with  lips,  no  less  than  with  lances, 
whatever  it  may  do  for  silent  observers,  may  be 
expected  to  confirm  our  opponent  in  his  views,  by 
enlisting  self-love  and  ambition  and  the  passions 
of  conflict  in  their  support  —  leading  him  to  give 
specially  favorable  attention  to  the  plausibilities  on 
his  own  side,  and  specially  prejudiced  and  carping 
attention  to  the  plausibilities  on  the  other  side. 

These  admissions  must  be  made.  But  they  are 
by  no  means  an  admission  of  the  small  utility  of 
the  argumentative  method.  Its  uses  are  real  and 
great,  though  not  such  in  kind  or  degree  as  some 
claim.  Granted  that  there  are  such  things  as 
sound  scientific  arguments  in  favor  of  God  and  the 


42  SECOND  LECTURE. 

Scriptures,  there  is  a  strong  presumption,  certainly, 
that  they  can  be  made  to  serve  some  very  valuable 
purpose  :  and  something  of  a  presumption,  too,  that 
what  so  many  great  and  good  men  —  bearing  such 
names  as  Newton,  Locke,  Clarke,  Berkeley,  Whate- 
ly,  Miller  —  have  deemed  greatly  useful,  not  to  say 
necessary,  and  on  which  they  have  expended  such  a 
wealth  of  toil  and  culture  and  genius  as  likens  them 
to  that  Jupiter  who  is  said  to  have  once  showered 
himself  on  the  world  in  the  form  of  gold,  is  far  from 
being  a  vain  thing.  And  the  presumption  should 
become  a  certainty  to  the  Christian  when  he  finds 
that  his  Scriptures  teach  him,  both  by  apostolic  ex- 
ample and  by  precept,  to  be  "  ready  always  to  give 
an  answer  to  every  man  that  asketh  a  reason  for 
the  hope  that  is  in  him."  But  multitudes  of  chris- 
tians  have  very  little  faculty  for  suitably  bringing 
up  from  the  depths  of  their  own  minds  the  reasons 
for  believing  which  they  actually  possess.  They 
sit  on  the  well ;  there  is  water  enough  in  it  to  sup- 
ply Jacob,  his  children,  and  his  cattle  ;  but  they 
have  nothing  to  draw  with,  and  the  well  is  deep. 
And  it  is  very  desirable  that  science  and  scholar- 
ship should  come  forward  to  put  them  into  connec- 
tion with  their  own  abundant  waters  ;  so  that  they 
may  pour  them  out  freely  at  the  curb-stone  to  re- 
fresh, not  merely  themselves,  but  the  weary  and 
thirsty  men  who  are  continually  passing. 

One  use  of  the  argumentative  method  is  that  it 
will  serve  in  many  cases  to  withstand  the  decay  and 


PROFIT.  43 

fall  of  faith,  especially  in  the  young.  Ingenious 
men  have  started  numerous  objections  and  woven 
numerous  sophisms  against  the  Christian  Scriptures 
and  their  Godi  Many  of  these  are  well  adapted  to 
perplex  and  deceive  the  young  and  incautious  mind. 
They  are  perpetually  turning  up,  covertly  or  openly, 
in  books,  magazines,  newspapers,  popular  lectures, 
conversation.  Almost  every  community,  even  in 
New  England,  has  some  one  or  more,  who,  to  the 
extent  of  their  influence,  are  confessed  perverters 
of  the  opinions  of  the  young  ;  and  pride  themselves 
on  retailing  wherever  opportunity  offers,  the  sneers 
and  arguments  of  prominent  infidels  and  atheists. 
No  guardians,  however  careful,  can  prevent  their 
wards,  as  they  come  forward  in  life,  from  meeting 
with  these  anthropophagi.  And  it  is  very  desirable 
that  what  cannot  be  prevented,  should  be  prepared 
for  ;  that  the  faith  which  tradition,  aided  by  in- 
stincts and  casual  observation  and  a  certain  uncon- 
scious logic,  has  already  established  in  multitudes  of 
the  young,  should  be  fortified  in  advance  with  well- 
considered  grounds  of  reason  against  the  sophistries 
they  will  have  to  encounter ;  certainly,  that  there 
should  be  within  their  reach  at  the  time  of  danger 
the  natural  antidote  to  the  poisonous  error  in  the 
shape  of  its  logical  refutation.  Of  course  the  pre- 
cautionary instruction  is  the  best.  And  here  that 
great  body  of  logical  religion  which  scholars  have 
carefully  digested  and  published  to  the  world,  com- 
prising reasonings  of  all  sorts  and  in  all  the  moods 


44  SECOND  LECTURE. 

and  tenses  of  thought  and  expression,  will  serve  a 
most  valuable  purpose.  The  Mentor  of  Telemachus 
can  go  to  this  roomy  Panoplon  of  all  the  Greeks, 
and  obtain  from  its  endless  variety  just  the  argu- 
ment adapted  to  the  capacity  and  way  of  thinking 
peculiar  to  his  ward.  And  it  will  be  received  with 
great  freedom  and  held  with  great  pertinacity ; 
for,  as  yet,  the  young  man  is  a  believer.  The 
consequence  will  be  that  when  in  course  of  life  he 
falls  in  with  the  cavils  and  sophistries  of  unbelief, 
however  ingenious,  his  mind  will  suffer  no  per- 
plexity and  his  faith  receive  no  shock.  It  will  not 
become  a  leaning  tower  of  Pisa.  He  will  not  be 
the  soldier  brought  to  his  knee  by  severe  wounds 
and  loss  of  blood.  His  friends  will  have  the  satis- 
faction of  seeing  the  assailing  darts,  however  deftly 
and  forcibly  flung,  rebound  harmlessly  from  the 
armor  of  proof  provided  in  anticipation  of  such  at- 
tacks. Without  such  forearming  they  would  have 
seen  him,  not  only  in  great  risk,  but  actually 
wounded,  prostrate,  and  dead. 

Moreover,  it  may  properly  be  claimed  that  the 
argumentative  method  will  almost  uniformly  do 
something  to  strengthen  the  Theism  and  Chris- 
tianity of  practical  believers  who  will  give  it  suita- 
ble attention,  especially  those  of  the  more  intellect- 
ual cast ;  and  such  will  be  likely  to  give  it  attention. 
No  Christian,  however  brawny  his  faith,  can  say 
that  it  is  as  strong  as  it  is  desirable  it  should  be,  and 
as  it  might  be.  He  has  merely  a  good  beginning 


PROFIT.  45 

of  what  admits  and  calls  for  indefinite  improve- 
ment. The  more  nearly  his  faith  likens  itself  to 
sight,  and  the  Christian  God  and  Revelation  stand 
forth  to  his  mind  as  do  the  oceans  and  mountains 
and  stars,  in  their  massive  and  inexorable  reality, 
the  purer  will  be  the  heart  he  will  bear  and  the 
life  he  will  lead.  How  shall  his  faith  receive  this 
needed  enlargement  ?  I  have  repeatedly  spoken 
of  the  great  method,  that  practical  method,  in  com- 
parison with  which  no  other  deserves  a  thought. 
But  there  is  another,  of  considerable  independent 
value  in  its  place ;  that  of  familiarizing  the  mind 
with  that  wide  variety  of  logic  in  behalf  of  the 
fundamental  religion  on  which  have  been  expended 
so  much  of  the  best  thinking  and  expression  of  the 
world.  If  one  is  already  a  believer,  there  is  noth- 
ing to  prevent  this  sound  argument  from  taking  its 
natural  effect  upon  him ;  he  is  predisposed  to  wel- 
come it,  and  to  give  it  due  weight.  Under  these 
circumstances,  especially  if  his  mind  is  of  the  more 
thoughtful  and  investigating  character,  he  will  find 
his  study  of  the  logical  evidences  giving  his  faith 
new  outspread  and  foundation.  The  Thesaurus 
of  logical  religion  has  become  an  exceeding  great 
Nineveh,  of  three  days'  -journey  —  has  become  hun- 
dred-gated Thebes,  able  to  send  forth  a  myriad  war- 
riors from  each  gate.  One  is  sure  to  find,  somewhere 
within  its  wide  precincts  and  amid  its  metropolitan 
resources  what  is  suited  to  his  peculiarity  of  habit 
as  a  thinker  and  as  a  Christian.  Who  has  the  free- 


46  SECOND  LECTURE. 

dom  of  the  national  Commissariat  will  be  sure  to 
find,  among  the  prodigious  stores  of  necessaries  and 
luxuries  that  crowd  its  roomy  depots,  something  to 
suit  his  peculiarity  of  appetite  and  constitution  ; 
who  has  the  freedom  of  the  national  Mint,  where 
are  piled  up,  in  glittering  stacks,  tons  of  coins  of 
every  precious  metal  and  every  denomination,  can 
surely  find  both  change  and  capital  enough  for  any 
personal  expense  or  reasonable  business  crisis  that 
has  come  upon  him ;  who  has  the  freedom  of  the 
national  Arsenal,  and  looks  around  on  the  weapons 
offensive  and  defensive,  ancient  and  modern,  foreign 
and  domestic,  for  siege  and  battle,  for  land  and  sea, 
for  officer  and  private,  whose  burnished  steel  and 
brass  —  not  to  say  silver  and  gold —  mix  their  terri- 
ble sheen  from  floor  to  ceiling,  will  surely  be  able  to 
generously  accommodate  his  own  idiosyncrasies  of 
enemy  and  campaign  and  strength  and  stature 
and  skill,  whatever  these  may  be. 

It  can  also  be  said  of  the  argumentative  method 
that,  by  itself,  it  may  often  weaken  and  occasionally 
overthrow  atheism  and  infidelity.  I  say  occasion- 
ally. Observation  seems  to  show  that,  while  the 
great  experimental  method  must  be  chiefly  relied 
on  to  do  this  work,  now  and  then  a  case  of  conver- 
sion to  intellectual  Theism  and  Christianity  occurs 
under  the  mere  pressure  of  argument.  Such  were 
the  cases  of  Galen,  Thorpe,  and  Nelson  ;  and  the 
latter,  in  his  "  Cause  and  Cure  of  Infidelity,"  gives 
several  instances  additional.  It  is  well  known  that 


PROFIT.  47 

the  almost  universal  unbelief  in  Yale  College  at 
the  beginning  of  the  present  century  was  com- 
pletely overturned  by  the  reasonings  of  its  eloquent 
president.  So  long  as  the  unbeliever  is  disputa- 
tious, so  long  as  the  spirit  of  prejudice  and  rancor 
is  active,  the  soundest  and  most  victorious  of  argu- 
ments will  not  take  effect  on  him :  but  there  are 
certain  opportune  and  critical  moments,  certain 
Thermopylae-passages  in  his  life,  when  conscience 
and  Providence  have  spurred  up  the  mind  to  some 
measure  of  candid  thoughtfulness  ;  and,  occasion- 
ally, at  such  times  the  religious  logic  succeeds  in 
getting  such  a  firm  hold  of  the  roots  of  unbelief  as 
enables  it  to  dislodge  the  evil  upas  finally  from  the 
mind.  It  does  not  take  many  such  achievements 
as  this  to  pay  for  all  the  labor  that  has  been  ex- 
pended in  rearing  and  equipping  the  argumentative 
method. 

These  several  uses  will  be  served  by  that  method 
considered  as  an  independent  agency.  But  its 
great  use  is  rendered,  not  as  an  independent  agency, 
but  as  an  auxiliary  to  the  practical  method.  It  is 
true  that  in  order  to  the  success,  in  a  very  consid- 
erable degree,  of  this  primary  method,  not  a  single 
formal  argument  in  behalf  of  God  and  Scripture 
needs  to  be  constructed.  Every  man  is  already, 
informally,  in  possession  of  as  much  light  from  that 
quarter  as  is  necessary  to  the  successful  working  of 
the  test  by  experiment.  At  the  same  time  the 
operation  of  this  method  will  be  greatly  facilitated, 


48  SECOND  LECTURE. 

and  carried  forward  to  much  larger  degrees  of  suc- 
cess than  it  could  otherwise  reach,  if  combined  with 
a  patient  attention  to  those  arguments  in  which 
many  of  the  ablest  thinkers  of  the  world  have  give  n 
the  most  apt  and  forcible  expression  to  the  rational 
grounds  of  faith.  Men  generally  need  to  be  stimu- 
lated to  the  faithful  and  persevering  use  of  the  ex- 
perimental method.  They  are  very  reluctant,  espe- 
cially atheists,  to  put  themselves  on  a  strict  course 
of  conscientious  living.  But  an  increase  of  their 
suspicion  that  they  are  in  error  will  help  them  to- 
ward overcoming  this  reluctance  ;  and  this  increase, 
as  we  have  seen,  a  just  consideration  of  the  ample 
logic  is  likely  to  give  —  a  logic  already  ample, 
but  which  may  be  made  as  much  ampler  as  the 
strata  of  Geology  are  ampler  than  your  geological 
cabinet.  In  the  case  of  the  atheist  such  just  con- 
sideration will,  in  general,  only  be  obtained  in  part 
and  with  difficulty.  But,  if  his  well-wishers  watch 
their  opportunity,  they  can  find  some  time  when  the 
spirit  of  prejudice  and  cavil  is  sufficiently  inactive 
in  him  to  allow  of  his  looking  at  the  Theistic  argu- 
ment with  enough  candor  to  greatly  increase  his 
uneasiness  and  latent  Theistic  suspicions.  And  this 
will  be  so  much  increase  of  pressure  toward  that 
practical  method  with  the  aid  of  which,  in  all  prob- 
ability, his  atheism  must  ultimately  be  overthrown. 
Judiciously  handled,  our  logical  religion  may  be 
made  the  great  dynamical  feeder  to  that  experi- 
mental method  which  is  the  world's  main  reliance 


PROFIT.  49 

for  faith.  It  is  worth  far  more  in  this  capacity  than 
as  an  independent  agent.  It  will  serve  religion 
much  better  by  recruiting  forces  for  another  gen- 
eral than  by  attempting  to  lead  them  itself. 

The  argumentative  may  also  minister  to  the  ex- 
perimental method  in  another  way.  Besides  fur- 
nishing stimulus  to  use  that  method,  it  furnishes  a 
better  measure  of  the  material  used  in  working  it. 
The  conscientious  acting  goes  to  remove  prejudice, 
balance  the  judgment,  rectify  the  purpose,  suggest 
love  of  the  truth,  and  bring  Divine  assistance  ;  and 
thus  prepares  the  mind  to  take  just  and  clear  views 
of  certain  facts  and  principles  which  are  the  ra- 
tional grounds  of  faith.  A  certain  amount  of  these 
facts  and  principles  must  be  had  under  even  the 
experimental  method  ;  and  this  amount  will  get 
supplied  in  connection  with  it  without  any  con- 
scious investigation.  But  it  is  desirable  to  have  as 
large  an  amount  as  possible  :  because  the  magnifi- 
cence of  the  faith,  if  not  its  existence,  depends  on 
the  extent  of  the  material  as  well  as  on  its  quality. 
A  tithe  of  the  shapely  blocks  of  white  marble  that 
make  up  the  cathedral  of  Milan  would  make  a 
very  solid  and  beautiful  structure  ;  but  still  nothing 
to  compare  with  that  august  temple  whose  pinna- 
cled and  massive  amplitudes  now  bear  up  three 
thousand  statues  to  gaze  across  the  pictured  plains 
of  Lombardy,  up  the  white  slopes  of  the  everlasting 
Alps.  By  means  of  the  argumentative  method, 
ministering  to  the  experimental  abundant  material, 


50  SECOND  LECTURE. 

every  one  may  have  a  templed  faith  like  the  Duomo 
of  Milan.  Whoever  faithfully  uses  the  method  by 
experiment  shall  surely  have  a  solid  and  beautiful 
sanctuary  :  but  whoever,  in  addition  to  this,  takes 
pains  to  put  into  the  hands  of  this  first  of  builders 
such  precious  and  profuse  material  as  the  argu- 
mentative method  can  quarry  and  hew  from  out  its 
vast  Paros  and  Carrara,  shall  have  a  metropolitan 
temple  for  his  faith,  a  Te  Deum  in  stone  to  which 
angels  shall  delight  to  become  pilgrims;  within 
whose  mountain  of  marble  and  beneath  whose 
dome  sweeping  grandly  heavenward,  he  shall  find 
all  climates  equalized,  and  a  secure  and  joyful  home 
as  long  as  he  lives. 


III. 
APPLICATION 

OF   THE 

ARGUMENTATIVE  METHOD. 

Kai  Sevrc  SieXeyx&o/xef. 

2j€  TW  Avro(/>V77,  rov  TTCIVTCOV  ^vcriv  e/XTrXc^av^. 

Euripides. 


III.  APPLICATION  OF  THE  ARGUMENTATIVE  METHOD. 

1.  PRINCIPLES S3 

2.  THESIS 59 

3.  FIRST  OBJECTION  — NATURA  SUFFICIT    ....  64 

4.  SECOND  OBJECTION  — MACULA 67 


THIRD  LECTURE, 


APPLICATION    OF   THE   ARGUMENTATIVE 
METHOD. 

IN  the  last  Lecture  I  called  your  attention  to  the 
Argumentative  Method  of  proving  the  Christian 
God  and  Scriptures  —  to  its  possibility,  propriety, 
and  possible  profit.  I  now  propose  to  begin  the 
application  of  the  method. 

Its  successful  application  depends  on  the  recog- 
nition of  certain  principles,  which,  however  plain 
and  however  generally  acted  on  in  other  fields  of 
moral  inquiry,  are  very  largely  treated  with  neglect 
in  this  whole  religious  field  en  which  we  are  now 
entering.  I  shall  therefore  devote  a  small  space  to 
their  consideration. 

What  purports  to  be  a  moral  truth  presents  itself 
at  our  gate,  and  asks  for  admission.  Of  course  we 
have  a  right  to  ask  for  credentials.  What  sort  and 
degree  of  credentials  ought  we  to  be  satisfied  with 
—  at  least  so  far  as  to  grant  the  admission  ?  In 
the  first  place,  it  is  very  plain  that  if  we  proceed  to 
demand  anything  of  the  nature  of  mathematical 


54  THIRD  LECTURE. 

demonstration,  a  demonstration  involving  the  im- 
possibility of  the  opposite  of  the  thing  demonstrated, 
we  shall  demand  too  much.  Proof  of  this  kind  is 
not  possible  in  moral  fields.  We  have  not  a  single 
moral  conviction  that  rests  on  such  evidence,  and 
never  will  have.  We  are  now  dealing  with  a  class 
of  ideas  contradistinguished  from  those  of  quantity. 
And  yet  almost  every  man  who  holds  out  against 
a  God  —  as  well  indeed  as  almost  every  man  who 
holds  out  against  Christianity,  or  who,  admitting 
Christianity,  holds  out  against  any  of  the  doctrines 
commonly  ascribed  to  it,  or  who,  admitting  these 
doctrines,  holds  out  against  any  of  the  duties  it  is 
commonly  supposed  to  enjoin  —  will  insist  on  hav- 
ing it  proved  to  him,  not  that  he  is  probably  in  the 
wrong,  but  that  it  is  impossible  he  is  in  the  right. 
"  Prove  to  me,'*  he  says,  "  that  antitheism  cannot 
be  true."  "Prove  to  me,"  he  says,  "that  anti- 
christianity  is  necessarily  false."  "  You  say  this 
is  my  duty:  prove  now,"  says  he,  "that  the  con- 
trary is  impossible  in  the  nature  of  things."  The 
demand  is  preposterous.  No  moral  truth  can  have 
mathematical  credentials. 

Moreover,  it  is  very  plain  that  if  we  require  in 
behalf  of  such  truth  evidence  that  carries  with  it 
moral  certainty,  we  require  altogether  too  much. 
Not  that  such  evidence  is  impossible  or  undesirable 
within  this  field.  Still  it  is  too  much  for  us  to  re- 
quire as  the  condition  of  believing.  Has  any  master 
of  sentences,  any  standard  of  the  art  of  reasoning, 


PRINCIPLES.  55 

laid  it  down  as  a  maxim  that  we  are  at  liberty  to  re- 
fuse belief  whenever  we  can  avoid  believing  ?  Did 
Newton,  or  Locke,  or  any  other  honest  great  thinker 
since  the  world  began,  carry  on  his  investigations 
of  a  moral  kind  under  such  a  rule  ?  Does  any  one 
do  it —  save  when  he  seems  in  danger  of  finding  an 
unpalatable  truth  ?  Is  this  the  rule  men  carry  with 
them  into  their  politics  and  their  business  —  reso- 
lutely refusing  faith  in  anything  till  they  have  been 
allowed  to  put  their  fingers  into  the  print  of  the 
nails,  and  to  thrust  their  hand  into  its  side  ?  By  no 
means.  Their  politics  and  business  would  hastily 
come  to  an  end  if  they  did  ;  and  their  whole  neigh- 
borhood would  sneer  at  the  impracticable  men  who 
are  forever  insisting  on  moral  certainties  and  dem- 
onstrations, and  will  yield  assent  to  nothing  till 
absolutely  compelled  by  Hercules  and  his  club  — 
that  is  to  say,  by  an  overpowering  stress  of  argu- 
ment. And  yet  almost  every  man  who  holds  out 
against  a  God,  or  against  the  Christian  Scriptures  as 
His  message  —  as  well  indeed  as  almost  every  man 
who,  admitting  these,  holds  out  against  any  of  the 
unpalatable  doctrines  or  duties  commonly  ascribed 
to  them  —  will  insist  on  its  being  proved  to  him,  if 
not  that  it  is  impossible  he  is  in  the  right,  at  least 
that  it  is  certain  he  is  in  the  wrong.  When 
reminded  that  there  are  no  mathematics  in  any 
part  of  the  moral  field,  he  feels  entitled  to  remem- 
ber that  there  are  moral  certainties.  These  are 
what  he  wants.  "  Prove  to  me,"  he  says,  "  that 


56  THIRD  LECTURE. 

antitheism  is  surely  false."  "Prove  to  me,"  he 
says,  "that  the  Bible  is  surely  true."  "  You  say," 
says  he,  "  that  this  is  a  scriptural  doctrine,  duty  : 
prove  it  beyond  a  doubt,  and  I  will  accept  it  as 
such."  This  man,  perhaps,  is  not  to  be  blamed  for 
desiring  evidence  of  the  most  convincing  kind  ;  his 
fault  is  that  he  must  have  this  or  none  —  that  he 
will  only  begin  to  believe  at  the  point  where  he 
should  end,  where  faith,  full-grown  and  fledged 
like  an  angel,  is  in  the  act  of  becoming  sight.  It 
would,  undoubtedly,  have  been  very  pleasant  to 
the  man  who,  for  a  mere  trifle,  had  just  purchased 
an  immense  property  in  one  of  our  Southern  States, 
if  he  could  have  had,  in  addition  to  the  deed  of  the 
recent  owner,  the  fairly  engrossed  and  broad-sealed 
deed  of  the  United  States  of  America,  flanked  by 
a  certain  constitutional  amendment.  But  as  he 
could  not  have  this,  he  was  glad  to  take  up  with  a 
great  deal  Jess.  He  paid  his  half  of  one  per  cent. 
on  the  value  of  that  Chatsworth,  and  joyfully  took 
possession  with  nothing  but  that  private  deed  in  his 
hand  —  hoping  in  time  to  have  something  better. 

Further,  it  is  plain  that  if  we  require  for  the 
admission  of  a  moral  truth  anything  more  than  a 
preponderance  of  evidence,  we  require  too  much. 
What  amount  of  evidence  would  be  pleasing  is  one 
thing:  what  amount  puts  us  under  obligation  to 
believe  is  another.  Just  as  soon  as,  upon  honest 
inquiry,  there  appear  more  probabilities  for  than 
against,  then  the  foundation  and  obligation  of  faith 


PRINCIPLES,  57 

are  laid.  We  have  no  right  to  delay  believing  one 
single  moment.  No  matter  how  small  the  apparent 
balance  of  likelihood  is  —  though  the  equipoise  of 
the  scale  is  disturbed  by  only  a  single  grain  —  we 
must  yield  our  assent  just  as  truly  as  though  that 
grain  were  a  mountain.  We  are  not,  indeed,  bound 
to  exercise  the  strongest  kind  of  faith  on  such  a 
basis  :  but  real  faith,  proportioned  to  the  balance  of 
probability,  we  are  bound  to  exercise.  This  is  the 
indisputable  and  undisputed  scientific  law  of  reason- 
ing —  statute  and  common  law.  Logic  is  bottomed 
on  this.  It  is  both  the  soil  that  feeds  its  root  and 
the  air  that  waves  its  branches.  It  is  that  which 
men  universally  act  on  in  affairs  of  business  and 
all  secular  life.  It  is  what  we  must  act  on  in  our 
religious  inquiries,  if  we  would  treat  religion  and 
the  mental  laws  fairly.  When  a  man  declares  that 
he  does  not  regard  Theism  and  Christianity  as  suf- 
ficiently substantiated,  I  say  to  him,  "  What  is  it 
you  mean  ?  Do  you  mean  that  they  do  not  fairly 
bristle  with  impossibilities  of  the  opposite,  like  the 
Principia  of  Newton  and  the  Me*canique  Celeste 
of  La  Place  ?  "  "  Oh  no,"  perhaps  he  replies,  "  I  do 
not  suppose  religion  to  be  a  science  of  magnitude, 
and  that  souls  operate  and  moral  ideas  stand  related 
according  to  the  laws  of  quantity."  "  Do  you  mean 
that  they  do  not  stand  forth  to  view  and  assent  like 
the  solar  orb  in  a  cloudless  day,  so  that  none  but 
the  stone-blind  will  fail  to  see  the  glory?"  "Oh 
no,"  perhaps  he  answers,  "  I  am  not  ignorant  that 


58  THIRD  LECTUJ'ti. 

blank  certainties  are  the  exception  under  the  pres- 
ent scheme  of  life,  that  they  properly  end  the 
faith  rather  than  begin  it,  that  to  make  them  its 
indispensable  conditions  would  ruin  my  present  life, 
and  so  might  ruin  my  next,  if  there  is  such.  No,  I 
am  not  so  unreasonable  as  that.  But  this  much  I 
do  mean:  I  must  have  a  broad,  heaped,  mass  of 
evidence ;  the  scale  on  the  side  of  God  and  the 
Bible  must  come  down  with  a  rapid  and  decisive 
stroke  ;  my  judgment  must  not  be  embarrassed 
with  a  large  array  of  counter-plausibilities.  Is  not 
this  reasonable  ?  "  It  would  be  reasonable  for  you 
to  be  glad  should  moral  truth  happen  to  come  to 
you  with  such  heavy  and  shining  credentials  — 
broad-shouldered  as  an  Atlas,  and  able  on  occasion 
to  bear  up  the  very  heavens  ;  but  to  say  that  it 
must  come  thus  or  come  in  vain  is  playing  the 
tyrant  with  the  first  principles  of  a  rational  logic. 
You  may  ask  a  preponderance  of  probabilities  in 
favor  of  God  and  His  message  as  a  prerequisite  to 
faith  :  this  may  be  your  due  from  scientific  religion. 
But  if  you  insist  on  a  jot  more,  you  are  unreason- 
able. And  yet  almost  every  man  who  holds  out 
against  God  and  His  message  will  insist  on  having 
it  proved  to  him,  if  not  that  it  is  impossible  that  he 
is  in  the  right,  if  not  that  it  is  certain  that  he  is  in 
the  wrong,  at  least  that  he  is  in  the  wrong  by  a 
manifold  and  overawing  balance  of  probability. 
"  Prove,"  he  says,  "  that  the  plausibilities  of  the 
atheist  and  the  infidel,  though  accumulated  and 


THESIS.  59 

spread  out  to  the  utmost,  can  be  covered  and  buried 
fathoms  deep  by  the  plausibilities  of  the  theist  and 
the  Christian  —  that  while  the  idea  of  No-God  and 
No-Revelation  has  merely  a  hand-breadth  of  base, 
that  which  underlies  our  current  religion  stretches 
away  over  the  whole  rocky  foundations  of  an  empire 
—  and  I  will  believe."  It  can  be  done  ;  but  shall 
one  who  knows  what  scientific  logic  means  presume 
to  demand  so  much  as  the  condition  of  believing? 

Such  are  the  principles  with  which  one  ought  to 
approach  the  application  of  the  argumentative 
method.  I  have  asked  you  to  recollect  them  —  not 
because  I  wish  to  make  the  most  of  a  little  evidence, 
but  because  I  wish  to  make  the  most  of  a  great 
deal ;  or,  rather,  because  I  wish  you  to  do  simple 
justice  to  those  Alps  and  Andes  of  evidence  which, 
almost  uncounteracted,  have,  in  connection  with 
the  experimental  method,  bowed  to  the  simple  yet 
majestic  faith  of  children  such  minds  as  Boyle,  and 
Locke,  and  Newton. 

OUR     FIRST     CONCERN      IS     WITH     THE     DOCTRINE 

or  GOD.  AND,  BY  THE  TERM  GOD,  LET  us  MEAN 
SIMPLY  AN  ETERNAL  BEING  POSSESSING  POWER 
AND  INTELLIGENCE  BEYOND  ALL  CONCEPTION 
GREATER  THAN  THE  HUMAN. 

Such  a  Being  I  affirm  to  exist.  At  present 
nothing  is  claimed  about  His  unity,  or  character,  or 
government.  Nor  is  it  claimed  that  His  power  and 
knowledge  are  absolutely  infinite  ;  only  that  they 


60  THIRD  LECTURE. 

are  practically  shoreless  to  our  thought.  This  nar- 
rowness of  thesis,  while  it  simplifies  the  discussion 
to  be  undertaken,  sacrifices  nothing  of  result.  The 
man  who  gets  convinced  that  there  is  an  Eternal 
Person  who  towers  above  men  in  might  and  wis- 
dom further  than  thought  itself  can  soar,  passes  easily 
forward  to  a  conviction  of  the  Divine  unity,  the 
Divine  goodness,  the  Divine  government,  and  the 
strict  illimitability  of  all  the  Divine  attributes. 
Enough  momentum  is  acquired  in  going  so  far  to 
carry  him  much  further.  Really  the  battle  is 
gained  for  the  entire  Natural  Theology.  No  in- 
telligent man  of  these  days  and  countries  would 
think  of  making  a  stand  at  any  other  point  after 
this  keep  of  his  castle  has  been  yielded.  That  high 
central  tower  commands  all  the  outworks.  You 
can  sling  a  stone  from  it  into  every  square  foot  of 
the  fortress.  This  is  instinctively  felt  by  the  broad 
intelligence  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Accordingly, 
there  is  not  a  theist  in  all  Christendom  who  believes 
in  more  than  one  God,  or  in  a  wicked  God,  or 
in  an  ungoverning  God,  or  in  One  whose  natural 
attributes  are  not  substantially  infinite.  Whoever 
believes  in  Him  at  all,  confesses  Him  to  be  the  one 
infinitely  great  and  good  Author  and  Ruler  of 
Nature.  It  was  not  always  so.  There  was  a  time 
when  theists  were  pluralists.  There  was  a  time 
when  men  believed  in  Ahriman —  nay,  in  both  Ahri- 
man  and  Ormuzd.  There  was  a  time  when  men 
supposed  that  God  wrapped  Himself  in  His  august 


THESIS.  61 

infinity,  and  stood  contemptuously  aloof  from  all  the 
affairs  of  men.  But  that  time  has  long  since  passed. 
Epicurus  is  dead.  The  Magians,  and  Manichees, 
and  Gnostics  are  all  dead.  To  attack  their  opinions 
is  to  attack  corpses.  To  prove  to  a  theist  of  this 
late  day  that  God  is  one,  or  good,  or  infinite,  or 
sceptered,  is  lost  labor  —  save  as  it  freshens  an  old 
truth.  The  man  admits  it  already.  He  is,  at  least, 
44  a  modern  deist."  Whatever  practical  ignoring 
of  the  leading  Divine  attributes  as  taught  in  the 
Scriptures  he  may  display,  they  are  fully  admitted 
theoretically.  So  the  task  before  us  is  simple.  All 
we  have  to  do  is  to  show  that  there  is  an  Eternal 
Person  whose  wisdom  and  power  are  indefinitely 
greater  than  the  human.  Having  this,  as  human 
thinking  now  stands,  we  have  all  —  wo  have  the 
unity,  the  goodness,  the  infinity,  and  the  government 
of  God.  Still  it  may  be  necessary  to  notice  some 
objections  to  these,  as  being  in  effect  objections  to 
the  Divine  existence. 

At  the  outset  it  is  plain  that  God  is  intrinsically 
possible.  Personal  beings  are  common  objects  :  so 
that  if  there  is  any  insuperable  intrinsic  difficulty 
in  the  way  of  the  existence  of  a  God,  it  lies  in  the 
attributes  of  eternity  and  comparative  infinitude  of 
power  and  knowledge  which  are  ascribed  to  Him. 
But  at  least  one  eternal  and  absolutely  infinite 
thing  is  known  to  exist,  namely,  space  ;  and  there  is 
no  more  difficulty  in  conceiving  of  an  eternal  and 
infinite  Person  as  being  actual  than  of  eternal  and 


62  THIRD  LECTURE. 

infinite  space  as  being  so.  Also,  if  there  is  no  God, 
there  must  be  eternal  matter  with  its  eternal  laws 
— just  as  hard  a  conception  as  an  eternal  mind. 
Also,  on  looking  on  one  side  of  us  down  the  long 
line  of  animated  nature,  we  find  it  occupied  with 
beings  in  perpetually  descending  and  mutually 
approximating  types  till  we  come  to  such  as  are 
infinitesimally  small  and  rude  —  mere  monads  trem- 
bling on  the  border  land  contested  between  the  or- 
ganic and  the  inorganic,  between  something  and 
nothing:  shall  any  say  it  is  impossible  that  the 
line  extends  on  the  other  side  of  us  upward  and 
away  among  perpetually  ascending  and  mutually 
receding  types  of  being,  till,  at  last,  by  one  pro- 
digious leap,  the  geometrical  series  ends  in  a  Being 
inconceivably  great  and  glorious?  Who  has  the 
right  to  say  that,  of  necessity,  himself  is  the  last 
term  of  the  series,  or  even  the  middle  of  it  —  that 
it  does  not  go  on  expanding  above  him  like  an 
inverted  pyramid  of  Cheops  till  the  base  of  all  is 
reached  in  infinite  God  and  heaven  ?  What  if 
some  rooted  gelatinous  polyp  should  assume  to 
pronounce  in  this  manner  —  as  it  looks  around  the 
mud-hole  where  it  stands  facile  princeps,  and  as  it 
follows  downward  with  its  nascent  vision  the  graded 
life  that  swarms  through  its  sphere  till  it  reaches 
that  infusorial  mote  which  the  microscope  magnify- 
ing sixteen  millions  of  times  has  only  just  brought 
to  light — what  if  that  polyp  should  assume  to  pro- 
nounce in  this  manner  ? 


THESIS.  63 

Next,  I  proceed  to  say  that  the  God  who  is  in- 
trinsically possible  is  on  the  whole  probable.  This, 
according  to  the  logical  principles  just  stated,  means 
that  whatever  objections  to  the  Divine  existence 
may  be  found  are  outweighed  by  the  arguments  for 
it ;  perhaps  means  that  the  arguments  in  the  one 
scale  are  zero,  while  those  in  the  other  are  the  entire 
multiplication  table.  Let  us  see. 

By  far  the  greater  part  of  atheists  do  not  claim 
that  there  is  any  positive  evidence  against  a  God ; 
they  only  maintain  the  insufficiency  of  the  evidence 
for  Him.  Their  attitude  is  that  of  doubters,  not 
disbelievers.  Nor  am  I  able  to  find  that  any  ob- 
jections deserving  of  notice,  besides  the  three  follow-  , 
ing,  are  ever  alleged  or  felt  against  the  Divine  ex- 
istence, as  admitted  to  be  intrinsically  possible. 

The  objections  are  these. 

First,  The  miseries  and  moral  disorders  of  the 
world,  together  with  such  natural  objects  as  go  to 
promote  these. 

Second^  The  absence  of  all  overpowering  mani- 
festation of  God  in  Nature  and  the  government  of 
the  world :  or,  at  least,  the  absence  of  an  irresistibly 
universal  faith  in  Him.  "  If  there  were  a  God," 
says  or  feels  the  objector,  "  He  would  so  clearly 
manifest  Himself,  or  otherwise  summon  faith,  as  to 
make  doubt  of  His  existence  universally  impossible. 
But,  instead  of  this,  all  is  silence,  invisibility,  and 
undemonstrativeness  on  the  part  of  any  such  Be- 
ing ;  and  while  some  disbelieve  His  existence,  more 


64  THIRD  LECTURE. 

doubt  it,  and  great  multitudes  have  a  faith  trouble- 
somely  weak  and  unimpressive." 

Third,  The  alleged  fact  that  all  things  which 
need  to  be  accounted  for  can  be  accounted  for  as 
surely  and  well  by  purely  natural  principles  as  on 
the  supposition  of  a  God;  in  which  case  we  are 
positively  required  by  reason  and  all  scientific  usage 
to  ascribe  the  facts  to  Nature  rather  than  to  the 
supernatural  as  their  probable  cause. 

Here  we  have  three  objections.  The  last  objec- 
tion, however,  should  be  thrown  out  for  the  pres- 
ent. It  really  lies  not  against  the  existence  of  a 
God  —  at  the  most  only  against  a  certain  class  of 
evidences  in  His  favor.  What  it  means  is  that 
certain  material  atoms,  with  their  properties  and 
laws,  will  just  as  well  explain  the  existence  of,  say 
natural  organisms,  as  will  the  hypothesis  of  a  God. 
In  another  .place  I  shall  formally  deny  this.  At 
present  I  have  only  to  point  out  to  you  that  were 
the  alleged  fact  incontestable,  it  would  not  lie  against 
the  existence  of  a  God  —  at  the  most,  only  against 
a  certain  class  of  evidences  in  His  favor,  namely, 
that  from  natural  organisms.  Allowing  that  these 
organisms  can  be  produced  with  perfect  ease  by  the 
economies  wrapped  up  in  certain  natural  elements, 
it  follows,  if  you  please,  that  organic  Nature  cannot 
be  appealed  to  as  direct  proof  of  the  Divine  exist- 
ence ;  but  it  does  not  follow  that  there  is  no  other 
proof  to  which  we  can  successfully  appeal  —  does 
not  follow,  either  surely  or  probably,  that  God  does 


SIRST  OBJECTION.—  NATURA  SUFFICIT.    66 

not  exist,  or  even  that  He  did  not  actually  produce 
Nature  in  all  its  glorious  outspread.  You,  with 
your  young  muscles  and  hearts,  are  perfectly  com- 
petent to  ascend  Mont  Blanc,  and  place  your  feet 
on  the  very  crown  of  that  Alpine  monarch  ;  but 
this  fact  does  not  even  make  it  probable  that  you 
were  ever  in  his  neighborhood  even.  You  have 
never  set  eyes  on  his  mighty  slopes.  You  have 
never  even  dreamed  of  doing  so.  And  even  if  it 
could  be  proved  that  at  some  time  you  have  really 
done  feats  fully  equal  to  scaling  that  snowy  miracle 

—  have   really   ascended  mountains  as  arduous  — 
this  would   have  no   tendency   to  prove    that  you 
have  ever  struggled  up  those  formidable  Savoyan 
steeps.   Even  so,  were  certain  natural  elements  quite 
competent  to  produce  the  noblest  organic  wonders 
that  ever  took  the  name  of  solar  system  or  of  man, 
it  would  be  no  probability  that  they  were  actually 
produced  by  these  elements.     But  suppose  it  were 

—  suppose  it  abundantly  proved  not  only  that  cer- 
tain material   elements  are  competent  to  organize 
Nature  as  we  find  it  organized,  but  that  they  ac- 
tually did  thus  organize  it  —  what  then  ?     Does  it 
follow  that  there  is  no   God?.      At  most,  it  only 
follows  that  the  organisms  of  Nature  are  not  avail- 

o 

able  as  proof  of  Him.  We  are  cut  off  from  a  cer- 
tain class  of  evidences  that  have  been  much  relied 
on  :  that  is  all.  Other  evidences  may  exist.  What 
hinders  that  a  God  should  make  one  of  the  coeter- 
nities  of  Nature  ;  and,  though  not  the  author  of  its 
5 


66  THIRD  LECTURE. 

organisms,  nor  even  of  the  primal  elements  from 
which  they  proceed,  stand  among  them  and  over 
them  from  everlasting  to  everlasting  as  absolute 
sovereign  ?  Nay,  what  hinders  Him  from  being  the 
author  of  those  very  material  elements  whose  won- 
drous properties  for  combination  and  organization 
have  naturally  peopled  the  heavens  with  sidereal 
systems  and  the  earth  with  the  glories  of  vegetable 
and  animal  life  ?  Absolutely  nothing.  We  are 
perfectly  free  to  suppose  that  the  whole  verdant 
tree  of  Nature  roots  itself  ultimately  in  God  —  that 
the  famous  questions  of  the  origin  of  species  and 
spontaneous  generation,  of  which  unbelief  in  these 
days  is  trying  to  make  so  much,  are  really  but 
questions  as  to  modes  and  times  of  a  Divine  oper- 
ation. Does  God  organize  Nature  with  His  own 
hand  through  all  these  years  and  countries  and 
spaces,  or  did  He,  vast  periods  agone,  launch  into 
being  certain  atoms  dowered  with  all  those  subtle 
affinities  and  laws  which  in  process  of  time  would 
of  themselves  issue  naturally  in  all  the  wondrous 
mechanisms  of  nature — behold  here  the  true  di- 
lemma with  which  the  Darwins  and  the  Lamarcks 
threaten  us !  This  the  chief  of  them  profess.  They 
profess  that  their  views  are  perfectly  consistent 
with  Theism.  They  shoot  not  a  single  arrow  any- 
where in  the  direction  of  a  God.  Every  shaft  flies 
exactly  a  quadrant  away  —  neither  for  nor  against. 
Grant  them  all  they  ask,  and  it  still  remains  perfectly 
open  to  proof  that  a  God  exists,  and  even  that  He 


SECOND  OBJECTION.— MACULAE.  67 

created  and  governs  the  whole  august  total  of 
Nature. 

Setting  aside,  therefore,  the  last  of  the  three 
objections,  as  having  no  claim  to  be  considered  at 
this  part  of  our  discussion,  however  much  it  may 
have  at  another  part,  let  us  revert  to  the  first  ob- 
jection, that  from  the  miseries  and  moral  disorders 
of  the  world. 

Now,  in  regard  to  this  objection,  it  ought  to  be 
plain  that,  if  it  has  any  validity,  it  is  not  against 
the  existence  of  such  a  God  as  I  now  affirm,  namely, 
an  Eternal  Being  of  power  and  intelligence  incon- 
ceivably beyond  the  human.  At  the  most,  it  is 
only  valid  against  a  good  God.  A  state  of  the  world 
checkered  by  sin  and  sorrow  and  deformity,  is 
surely  not  inconsistent  with  the  existence  of  a 
wicked  Deity.  It  would  not  be  out  of  character 
for  such  a  being  to  neglect  us,  to  afflict  us,  to  abuse 
us  to  any  extent  or  in  any  manner.  Were  the 
world  one  vast  torture-house  and  pandemonium,  it 
would  still  agree  perfectly  well  with  the  presidency 
of  one  who  hates,  or  cares  not  for  the  holiness  and 
happiness  of  his  creatures.  Looking  around  the 
dungeons  of  the  Inquisition  has  no  tendency  to 
draw  into  doubt  the  reality  of  the  Inquisitor-Gen- 
eral, whatever  conclusions  it  may  warrant  as  to 
his  sweetness  and  mercifulness.  Looking  around 
on  the  debris  of  worn  and  crushed  geologic  peri- 
ods never  induces  geologists  to  think  of  calling  in 
question  the  presence  among  them  of  some  enor- 


68  THIRD  LECTURE. 

mous  force :  they  only  are  put  upon  considering 
whether  that  force  is  Plutonian  or  Neptunian. 

This  is  my  first  answer  to  the  objection  from  the 
sins  and  sorrows  and  other  macula  observable  in 
Nature.  If  it  has  any  force  at  all,  it  is,  at  the  most, 
only  against  the  goodness  of  God,  not  against  His 
existence.  But  really  it  has  no  force  even  against 
His  goodness.  God  may  not  only  exist,  but  clothe 
Himself  with  goodness  as  the  sun  does  itself  with 
rays,  notwithstanding  the  earth  is  confessedly 
scorched  and  scarred  with  physical  and  moral  evil. 
I  wish  to  show  this  for  several  reasons.  It  is  well 
to  push  the  objection  which  has  been  so  great  a 
trial  to  many  still  further  from  our  thesis  —  so  to 
speak,  out  of  sight  of  it  as  well  as  out  of  hearing  — 
and,  as  it  were,  make  assurance  of  its  invalidity 
doubly  sure.  Does  the  son  content  himself  with 
merely  turning  off  by  the  smallest  possible  angle 
the  arrow  aimed  at  his  sire  ?  Does  he  not  rather 
with  forceful  and  indignant  blow  smite  it  a  whole 
semicircle  away  ? 

It  may  also  be  well  to  show  the  invalidity  of  the 
objection  as  against  Divine  goodness,  in  order  to 
forestall  a  prejudice  against  accepting  any  God  that 
naturally  arises  from  supposing,  or  at  least  fearing, 
that  the  God,  when  accepted,  will  have  to  be  ad- 
mitted to  be  a  bad  one.  We  all  had  rather  have 
no  God  than  one  destitute  of  goodness  ;  and  this 
feeling  naturally  stands  in  the  way  of  the  reception 
of  any  logic,  however  conclusive,  in  behalf  of  a 


SECOND  OBJECTION.— MACULA.  69 

-jf 

God  which  may  have  this  enormous  want.  Another 
reason,  perhaps  the  most  important  of  all.  There 
are  many  to  whom  it  seems  that  an  Eternal  Being 
of  inconceivably  great  intelligence  and  power  log- 
ically implies  a  good  God  and  abundant  evidences 
of  Him,  and  that,  consequently,  any  objection  valid 
against  His  goodness  is  really  valid  against  His  ex- 
istence. For  the  sake  of  such  persons  also — some 
of  them  believers  of  the  choicest  kind  —  I  desire 
to  go  further,  and  show  that  the  various  evils,  nat- 
ural and  moral,  of  the  world  are  not  against  even 
the  Divine  goodness ;  are  not,  under  the  circum- 
stances of  the  case,  even  the  smallest  presumption 
on  the  whole  that  among  the  existences  of  the  uni- 
verse there  is  not  One  whose  eternal  years  of 
might  and  wisdom  are  auroral  with  the  glories  of 
a  perfect  virtue. 

Notice  the  following  things.  First,  if  God  were 
not  strictly  almighty,  the  limitation  of  His  power 
would  sufficiently  account  for  the  evil  observable 
about  us  ;  we  should  be  quite  at  liberty  to  suppose 
Him  perfectly  good.  Second,  if  He  were  not 
strictly  omniscient,  the  limitation  of  His  knowledge 
would  sufficiently  account  for  the  evil  around  us ; 
and  we  should  be  quite  at  liberty  to  suppose  Him 
perfectly  good  still.  Third,  if  these  two  limitations 
were  existing  together — and  our  thesis  does  not 
assume  the  contrary  —  they  would  furnish  us  with 
double  the  explanation  required  to  meet  the  objec- 
tion without  giving  up  one  jot  from  a  perfect  Divine 


70  THIRD  LECTURE. 

goodness.  By  giving  up  either  the  strict  almighti- 
ness  or  the  strict  omniscience,  we  can  surely  save 
the  goodness  in  all  its  entirety :  by  giving  up  both, 
we  can  double,  so  to  speak,  the  assurance  of  our 
position.  For  my  part,  if  compelled  to  choose,  I 
should  prefer  to  allow  that  God  is  not  quite  meta- 
physically almighty,  or  all-wise,  or  even  neither ; 
that  although  powerful  and  intelligent  beyond  all 
human  standard  and  thought,  better  equipped  in 
these  respects  than  Zeus  or  Brahma  was  ever  fa- 
bled to  be,  His  oceans  of  might  and  knowledge  fall 
somewhat  short  of  being  absolutely  shoreless.  But 
this  sacrifice  is  not  necessary.  A  perfect  Divine 
goodness  can  be  saved  without  it.  And  it  seems 
to  me  not  hard  to  do  it  —  especially  in  view  of  the 
peculiar  nature  of  virtue,  and  of  the  manifest  fitness 
of  an  outward  condition  of  imperfection  and  sorrow 
to  a  race  of  sinners.  I  ask  you  to  emphasize  this 
last  thought.  Let  it  be  the  background  on  which 
you  project  such  facts  as  the  following  —  not  for  the 
purpose  of  exaggerating  them,  but  for  the  purpose 
of  setting  them  forth  in  all  the  truthfulness  of  na- 
ture. 

Notice  what  the  aspect  of  the  world  really  is. 
We  do  not  see  exclusively  sorrows,  and  sins,  and 
shadows.  By  no  means.  We  see,  besides,  a  vast 
deal  of  enjoyment  —  from  mere  comfort  to  rap- 
ture ;  from  the  obvious  gayety  of  the  mote  in  his 
sunbeam,  up  the  long  line  of  gamboling  and  singing 
and  smiling  Nature,  with  its  hundreds  of  thousands 


SECOND   OBJECTION. -MACULsE.  71 

of  known  species,  to  the  mighty  joy  of  a  man  who 
at  least  thinks  he  has  gained  the  prize  of  eternal 
life.  In  addition,  we  see  an  incalculable  amount 
of  things  fitted  to  give  enjoyment  —  useful  things, 
delicious  things,  beautiful  things,  sublime  things ; 
things  grateful  to  the  touch,  to  the  taste,  to  the  smell, 
to  the  ear,  to  the  sight,  to  the  soul ;  pleasant  lights 
and  shadows ;  sweet  perfumes  and  sounds ;  golden 
grains  and  fruits ;  lovely  features,  forms,  flowers, 
gems,  landscapes,  motions  ;  glorious  rivers  and 
cataracts  and  mountains  and  oceans  and  skies  — 
in  thronging  hosts  which  no  arithmetic  can  com- 
pute. Further,  mixed  up  with  this  natural  good  is 
a  great  amount  of  such  as  is  of  a  still  higher  na- 
ture. No  one  is  warranted  in  saying  or  believing 
that  there  is  a  particle  of  sin  in  any  of  the  animal 
races  below  man.  But  there  are  many  fair  and 
noble  spiritual  qualities  revealing  themselves  in 
numberless  ways  through  these  humbler  but  wide 
domains  —  fair  instincts,  affections,  gratitudes ;  no- 
ble endurance,  courage,  skill.  And  altogether, 
within  historic  and  our  daily  observation,  there  are 
—  generously  sown  through  the  world  like  star- 
dust,  and  lighting  up  our  atmosphere  with  all  man- 
ner of  lights,  from  the  atomic  phosphorescence  of 
the  fire-fly  to  the  gayest  November  star-rain  — 
comely  orders  and  proprieties,  generous  impulses, 
charming  amiabilities,  graceful  affections ;  beauteous 
industries,  usefulnesses,  purities,  aspirations,  hopes  ; 
exalted  patiences,  fortitudes,  heroisms,  loves,  mag- 


72  THIRD  LECTURE. 

nanimities,  moralities,  consciences  —  above  all,  pure 
solid  Christian  virtue  in  very  many  incontestable  and 
even  glorious  instances,  the  record  of  which  thrills 
us  as  we  read ;  also,  in  the  case  of  every  human 
being,  capabilities  of  a  virtue  of  the  most  magnifi- 
cent description,  and  far  loftier  than  any  that  ever 
actually  pictured  and  glorified  the  historic  page. 
Further,  it  is  observed  that  virtue  has  in  its  favor 
the  suffrages  of  all  consciences,  and,  confessedly, 
the  general  current  of  natural  laws  and  events. 

Now,  this  I  say,  that  if  you  hold  God  responsible 
for  the  sorrows,  moral  disorders,  and  other  disad- 
vantages of  the  world,  it  is  but  fair  to  give  Him 
credit  for  the  happiness  and  virtue,  and  manifold 
advantages  of  all  sorts,  that  exist.  If  you  debit 
Him  with  those  dark  things,  you  should  credit 
Him  with  these  bright  things.  If  the  one  class  of 
facts  is  allowed  to  argue  against  a  good  God,  then 
the  other  class  must  be  allowed  to  argue  in  His  favor. 
And  it  is  simply  a  question  which  party  argues 
loudest  —  the  Red  Roses  or  the  White,  the  Guelphs 
or  the  Ghibellines,  the  noes  or  the  ayes.  Who 
is  warranted  in  pronouncing  that  the  noes  have  it  ? 
My  ears  have  not  discovered  it,  nor  have  yours, 
nor  yours ;  least  of  all  —  those  of  the  objecting 
atheist.  Confessedly,  the  happiness  of  the  world 
is  far  greater  than  its  sorrow :  almost  every  living 
creature  has  a  thousand  moments  of  comfort  to  one 
moment  of  pain.  Existence,  as  it  is,  is  almost  uni- 
versally considered  a  blessing,  and  so  much  of  a 


SECOND  OBJECTION.— MACULAE.  73 

blessing  that  not  one  in  a  thousand  but  would  a 
thousand  times  prefer  living  on,  with  his  average 
lot  as  to  happiness,  to  being  dismissed  into  annihila- 
tion painlessly,  or  even  by  way  of  paradise.  Con- 
fessedly, the  noxious  things,  the  deformed  things, 
the  things  that  wound  the  senses  and  the  aesthetical 
nature,  bear  no  sensible  proportion  to  the  useful,  the 
comely,  the  gratifying  things  that  be-green  and 
be-blossom  this  beautiful  world.  Let  every  man 
look  about  and  judge  for  himself.  Atheists  not 
only  confess,  but  profess  it.  They  are  forward  to 
claim  great  things  for  Nature  :  she  is  to  them  the 
one  worshipful  Alma  Mater :  they  practically  deify 
her  and  her  laws.  Confessedly,  there  are  through 
the  multitudinous  races  below  man  more  orders 
than  disorders,  more  proprieties  than  improprieties, 
more  things  that  are  comely  and  useful  in  disposi- 
tion and  instinct  and  habit  than  there  are  things  of 
apparently  the  opposite  character.  I  suppose  no 
naturalist  of  standing,  whatever  his  religious  views, 
would  for  one  moment  think  of  calling  this  in 
question.  An  open  profession  of  it,  on  the  con- 
trary, in  terms  enthusiastic  and  almost  poetical,  dis- 
tinguishes the  chieftains  of  natural  history.  It  is 
true  that  when  we  come  to  man  —  if  we  take  the 
Bible-microscope  and  the  Bible-micrometer  for  in- 
specting and  judging  the  hearts  of  men,  and  not 
otherwise  —  we  find  more  sin  than  holiness  ;  but 
then  we  find  by  the  side  of  what  goodness  does  ex- 
ist, and  assisting  most  heavily  to  bear  down  its 


74  THIRD  LECTURE. 

scale,  this  more  than  fairly  offsetting  great  fact, 
namely,  that  the  general  constitution  of  Nature, 
and  all-  human  consciences  without  exception  the 
world  over,  are  founded  and  immovably  continued 
from  age  to  age  in  the  interests  of  virtue.  I  say 
this  more  than  fairly  offsetting  fact,  especially  in 
view  of  the  essentially  free  nature  of  virtue.  But 
from  the  stand-point  of  the  objecting  atheists  the 
case  is  still  clearer.  These  are  the  men  who  have 
never  accepted  the  Christian  view  of  the  corruption 
of  human  nature,  nor  the  Christian  view  of  the 
nature  of  virtue.  These  are  the  men  who  have 
constituted  themselves  professors  of  the  dignity  of 
human  nature  and  of  the  innocence  of  childhood 
—  men  with  whom  every  amiable  instinct  and 
graceful  propriety  and  pleasing  amenity  passes  for 
solid  holiness  —  or  rather,  men  with  most  of  whom 
there  is  no  such  thing  as  sin,  only  misfortune  or 
contrariety  to  public  opinion ;  that  is  to  say,  no  sin 
but  pain,  and  no  holiness  but  pleasure.  According 
to  these  views,  the  world  is  just  as  fair  morally  as  it 
is  physically  and  in  its  relation  to  happiness. 

This,  then,  is  the  state  of  the  case,  especially  ac- 
cording to  the  objector's  own  showing :  on  the  one 
side  much,  on  the  other  side  more  —  on  the  one 
side  ten  suffrages,  on  the  other  ten  thousand  —  on 
the  one  side  a  good  God  negatived  by  a  chorus  of 
tears  and  sighs  from  the  night,  on  the  other 
affirmed  by  a  much  grander  chorus  of  smiles  and 
songs  from  the  day.  What  right  has  any  man  to 


SECOND  OBJECTION.  — MACULA.  75 

favor  the  vanquished  night-side  of  Nature  ;  and 
record  judgment,  not  only  in  defiance  of  charity,  but 
in  defiance  of  the  logic  of  testimony  ?  What  right 
has  he  to  balance  the  books  against  a  good  God, 
when  really  there  is  a  large  balance  to  His  credit, 
according  to  the  observation  of  all  discerning  men  ? 
He  has  none,  and  stands  by  the  side  of  the  man 
who  hearkens  more  to  the  spots  on  the  sun  than  to 
the  sun  itself. 

Now,  suppose  a  mind  brought  to  this  stage  should 
suddenly  become  clairvoyant  as  to  the  future  of  this 
world,  and  discover  a  littleMn  advance  a  golden 
age  unfolding  itself  in  every  land  and  among  every 
race  of  creatures  —  the  new  reign  of  Saturn,  the 
sabbath  of  geologic  periods,  the  tenth  avatar  of 
Brahma,  and  the  millennium  of  Christ  —  say,  if 
you  please,  a  thousand  years  whose  every  day  is  a 
year,  365,000  years :  and  through  all  this  mighty 
era  those  three  matchless  graces,  holiness,  happi- 
ness, and  beauty  triumphantly  and  universally 
reigning,  and  even  the  entire  menagerie  of  Nature 
bathing  itself  in  the  mellow  glory.  Suppose,  still 
further,  that  after  he  has  sufficiently  familiarized 
himself  with  the  vision  of  this  earthly  elysium, 
and  has  just  passed  to  and  mastered  the  fact  that, 
with  a  slight  and  relatively  altogether  insignificant 
break,  this  happy  period  shall  everlastingly  con- 
tinue —  suppose  that  another  and  still  higher  clair- 
voyance succeeds.  His  view  is  no  longer  confined 
to  this  earth.  His  eye  has  the  freedom  of  the 


76  THIRD  LECTURE. 

starry  spaces.  It  sends  glance  outward  and  out- 
ward to  find  the  voids  peopled  with  worlds  in  such 
prodigious  numbers  and  magnitudes  that,  in  com- 
parison, the  great  outspread  of  earth  is  but  a 
point.  What  unspeakable  legions,  all  cased  in 
golden  mail,  go  wheeling  and  charging  and  storm- 
ing through  the  routed  empires  of  Night  and  Noth- 
ingness !  What  infinite,  infinite  armadas,  with 
flashing  banners,  bear  down  the  reaches  of  that 
endless  ocean  —  and  behold  all,  with  scarcely  an 
exception,  freighted  to  overflowing  with  beauty  and 
goodness  and  bliss,  as  some  gushing  sunset  cloud  is 
freighted  with  the  dolphin  hues  of  the  dying  day  ! 
And  he  sees  that  the  whole  area  flecked  with  sin 
and  pain  and  various  evils  is  comparatively  but  a 
fluxion  of  the  last  order,  a  microscopic  dot  on  the 
white  page  of  universal  Nature.  I  say,  suppose 
some  second-sight  could  discover  to  him  all  this  — 
should  become  the  successful  whipper-in  of  all  its 
roving  members  to  that  august  natural  parliament 
in  which  the  question  of  a  good  God  is  just  now 
pending  —  bringing  up  substantially  all  space  and 
all  duration  to  add  their  voices  to  that  large  ma- 
jority which  on  the  earth  utter  affirmative  suffrage 
—  what  would  be  the  result  ?  Would  not  the  seven 
thunders  of  the  ayes  completely  drown  the  noes 
in  his  ear  ?  Ought  they  not  ? 

Now,  who  is  authorized  to  say  that  an  actual  can- 
vassing of  duration  and  space  would  not  discover 
substantially  all  this  ?  Not  a  man.  Traditions  favor 


SECOND  OBJECTION.  — MACULAE.  77 

a  golden  age  to  come  as  well  as  a  golden  age  past. 
"  Jam  redit  et  virgo,  redeunt  Saturnia  regna."  The 
rapidly  advancing  sciences  and  arts  and  comforts 
of  men  point  in  the  same  direction.  The  magnifi- 
cent faculties  for  virtue  and  happiness  which  every 
man  consciously  possesses  —  also  actual  examples, 
sometimes  found,  of  individuals,  families,  and  com- 
munities already  well-nigh  bright  enough  in  every 
respect  to  enter  into  the  composition  of  a  paradise  — 
look  the  same  way  with  still  greater  steadiness  and 
majesty.  And  then,  what  means  the  far  superior 
aspect  of  most  of  those  foreign  worlds  which  sail 
so  brightly  and  joyfully,  and,  many  of  them,  with 
such  marvelous  glory,  through  the  field  of  the  tel- 
escope ?  Does  that  rainbow-bouquet  of  orbs  in  the 
Southern  Cross,  or  that  great  cluster  in  Her- 
cules which  sails  in  such  heavenly  pomp  across  the 
field  of  our  telescopes,  positively  discourage  you  and 
bid  you  think  of  abodes  of  sin  and  sorrow  ?  Oh, 
no.  They  are  a  positive  encouragement.  They 
suggest  a  fairer  state  of  things  than  we  have  here. 
They  assert  a  possibility,  they  venture  a  prediction, 
they  turn  their  faces  hopefully  toward  the  sun-ris- 
ing ;  and,  as  we  dimly  look  upon  them,  we  imagine 
we  see  their  features  already  beginning  to  light  up 
with  the  flush  of  coming  day.  It  is  not  from  such 
facts  that  a  Baconian  infers  discouragement.  If  he 
does  it  at  all,  it  is  from  the  evils  seen  in  this  world. 
But  would  a  savage  on  the  most  barbarous  South 
Sea  island,  after  looking  about  his  narrow  home  and 


78  THIRD  LECTURE. 

observing  what  obtains  there,  be  warranted  in  say- 
ing that,  on  the  whole,  probably  all  the  rest  of  man- 
kind are  savages  and  cannibals,  or  that  any  of 
them  are  ?  Would  a  child  living  in  the  most  dilap- 
idated hut  in  Ireland,  after  looking  about  on  its 
ruins  and  its  rags,  be  warranted  in  saying  that  it  is 
more  likely  than  not  that  all  the  other  dwellings  of 
the  world  are  as  poor  as  his  own,  or  that  any  of 
them  are  ?  Would  a  trilobite,  after  looking  about 
his  native  marsh,  be  entitled  to  say  that,  more 
likely  than  not,  nothing  better  than  trilobites  would 
ever  appear  in  the  world,  or  even  that  a  single  true 
trilobite  would  ever  exist  out  of  the  Silurian  ? 

If  I  have  accomplished  what  I  attempted,  I  have 
shown  that  the  objection  from  the  sins  and  sorrows 
and  other  shadows  of  the  world  does  not  lie  against 
my  thesis  at  all ;  that  it  is  at  a  threefold  remove 
from  being  pertinent  even  against  the  doctrine  of 
a  good  God  ;  that  if  it  were  intrinsically  available 
for  this  purpose,  it  would  still  be  balanced,  heavily 
overborne,  and,  not  improbably,  completely  sunk 
below  the  horizon  by  the  actual  state  of  facts  in 
this  beautiful  and  even  gorgeous  universe  that  sur- 
rounds us. 


IV. 

MACULA. 

Ilocra)  jLtaXXov  6  Harr)p  6  e£  ovpavov. 


roAA'  avravra  Sci^cp*  frytLrai  Tlarrfp  Zevs- 

Sophocles. 


IV.   MACULAE. 

1.  SECOND  OBJECTION  CONTINUED 81 

2.  PATERNAL  ANALOGIES 83 

3.  LAW   OF  THE   INFINITE 99 

4.  LAW  OF  CONSCIENCE 101 

5.  LAW   OF   PATERNITY .103 

6.  LAW   OF  CHARITY .  106 

7.  LAW  OF  THE  GENERAL  RULE 108 

8.  TOTAL  SCIENTIFIC  IMPORT 114 


FOURTH   LECTURE. 


MACULAE. 

TN  the  present  state  of  religious  thought,  all  ob- 
jections  to  the  goodness  of  God  make  directly 
against  His  existence.  On  this  account  I  have 
taken  pains  to  show  that  the  maculas  of  various 
kinds  observable  in  Nature,  are  very  far  removed 
from  being  a  valid  objection  to  the  Divine  goodness. 

This  subject  is  so  extremely  important  —  the  idea 
of  possible  malevolence  in  a  Being  of  substantially 
infinite  powers  operates  so  powerfully  to  prejudice 
the  mind  against  admitting  His  existence  —  that  I 
propose  to  enlarge  my  answer  still  further.  I  pro- 
pose to  show  that,  despite  all  stumbling-blocks,  the 
state  of  facts  is  such  that,  if  we  assume  God  to 
exist  as  the  Author  and  Ruler  of  Nature,  we  are 
bound  by  Baconian  science  to  admit  not  only  His 
loving-kindness  but  a  loving-kindness  that  is  in  the 
highest  degree  paternal.  If  He  is  at  all,  He  is 
tenderness  itself.  If  He  is  at  all,  never  did  sire  so 
yearn  over  son  as  God  yearns  over  all  His  crea- 
tures. 

Let  us,  then,  temporarily  assume  a  God  who  is 


82  FOURTH  LECTURE. 

the  source  of  being  to  all  other  beings.  Lo,  the 
All-Father ;  lo,  the  Pater  Mundi  I  More  broadly 
and  fundamentally  than  ever  was  man  the  father 
of  a  human  child,  is  God  the  Father  of  all  things, 
small  and  great,  unintelligent  and  intelligent,  life- 
less and  living,  that  people  with  their  countless 
swarms  the  universal  round  of  space  —  Father  of 
the  very  primary  elements,  and  basal  substance  of 
all  things  —  Father  of  all  natural  chemical  and  me- 
chanical combinations  of  these  —  Father  of  all  nat- 
ural structures ;  of  the  man  ;  of  the  brute  ;  of  the 
plant ;  of  the  stone,  whether  as  a  jewel,  a  stratum, 
or  a  world.  Everything  in  Nature  belongs  to  His 
family.  Stars  and  souls  are  His  chijdren ;  the 
veriest  insects  and  motes  as  well.  You  are  His  son, 
and  so  is  the  worm  under  your  feet,  as  well  as  that 
atom  of  dust  which  the  worm  crawls  over.  There 
is  not  a  thing  which  has  not  occasion  to  send 
heavenward  its  Pater  Noster. 

Let  this  be  admitted.  Then  you  are  to  observe 
that  human  beings  are  mere  infants  relative  to  this 
Heavenly  Father.  The  greatest  specimens  of 
adult  human  nature  ever  seen  ;  the  men  of  broad- 
est faculties,  of  widest  information,  of  highest  cul- 
ture ;  the  most  famous  scholars,  statesmen,  philos- 
ophers, geniuses — even  such  men  as  these  are 
merest  infants  relatively  to  their  Infinite  Father. 
Compared  with  His  faculties,  what  are  those  of  a 
Newton  or  a  Pascal !  Compared  with  His  knowl- 
edge, what  is  that  of  a  Leibnitz  or  a  Humboldt! 


PATERNAL  ANALOGIES.  83 

Compared  with  His  accomplishments  and  feats  of 
many  names,  what  are  those  of  admirable  Crichtons 
and  Sidneys  and  Cids  !  Mere  nothings,  surely. 
When  I  say  that  they  are  infantile,  when  I  liken 
these  so-called  great  men  to  the  little  children  that 
creep  and  totter  about  our  human  homes,  I  cer- 
tainly may  be  considered  to  speak  with  great  mod- 
eration. We  all  know  it  an  under-state ment  of  the 
truth.  So  far  from  being  hyperbole,  it  falls  wonder- 
fully short  of  expressing  the  actual  facts. 

Men  are  God's  infants.  And  we  ought  not  to  be 
stumbled  at  finding  them  receiving  from  their  Great 
Father  what  is  found  in  our  common  household 
experience  to  be  wise  treatment  for  little  children. 
I  mean  that  such  treatment  as  a  wise  human  father 
finds  necessary  for  or  adapted  to  his  very  dear  lit- 
tle children,  it  should  not  stumble  us  to  find  allotted 
by  God  to  these  very  little  children  of  His,  adult 
men. 

See  how  He  treats  us  ! 

.  See,  first,  that  we  do  not  have  all  our  wishes 
granted.  How  well  do  we  know  this  !  Why,  it  is 
only  here  and  there  one,  among  the  multitude  of 
our  cravings,  that  God  suffers  to  be  gratified.  Man 
is  "  a  bundle  of  wishes,"  but  he  neither  receives 
nor  expects  the  fulfillment  of  the  thousandth  part 
of  them.  Let  us  confess  it ;  had  a  chronicle  been 
carefully  kept  of  all  the  crude  wishes  that  have 
flitted  through  our  minds  from  day  to  day,  we  should 
not  only  be  mortified  at  the  quality  of  many  of 


84  FOURTH  LECTURE. 

them  and  astonished  at  their  number,  but  we  should 
also  be  both  mortified  and  astonished  at  the  very 
small  proportion  of  these  blossoms  which  have 
ripened  into  fruit.  —  Well,  it  is  but  the  case  of  the 
very  little  child  in  the  hands  of  a  wise  and  tender 
earthly  father.  Does  he  give  his  children  every- 
thing they  want  —  the  little  tottering,  unreasoning, 
inexperienced,  visionary  things  !  He  knows  better 
than  to  do  that.  He  has  too  much  good  sense  and 
regard  for  his  children  to  do  that.  He  allows  them 
to  wish  in  vain  for  many  a  pernicious  indulgence 
which  he  could  easily  give  them  if  he  thought  best ; 
even  stoutly  withholds  such  things  from  their  tears 
and  prayers.  And  when  they  have  grown  up  they 
will  be  thankful  to  him  for  his  wise  and  kind  ob- 
stinacy. Is  not  God  wise  and  kind  after  the  same 
manner  ?  Though  we  are  men  as  compared  with 
children,  we  are  children,  infant  children,  as  com- 
pared with  God.  And  not  one  in  a  thousand  of 
our  crude  fancies  as  to  what  would  be  good  for 
us  is  He  disposed  to  fulfill.  Perhaps  He  loves  us 
too  well.  Perhaps  He  is  too  wise  to  do  so  foolish 
a  thing,  though  our  hearts  cry  bitterly  unto  Him 
for  it. 

See,  second,  that  we  are  positively  stricken  as  well 
as  denied.  Not  only  do  we  fail  of  having  all  that 
we  wish  —  we  also  receive  positive  correction,  chas- 
tisement, stripes.  What  man  that  lives  is  without 
his  trials  ?  What  man  that  lives  does  not  die  —  such 
is  the  hard  word  we  use  —  driven  out  very  painfully, 


PATERNAL  ANALOGIES.  85 

perhaps,  into  the  cold  and  dark  ?  Losses,  crosses  — 
who  has  not  looked  many  forms  of  such  things  in 
the  face ;  nay,  taken  them  firmly  by  the  hand ; 
nay,  most  reluctantly  embraced  them  as  men  em- 
braced the  thorny  Mater  Dolorosa  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion ?  Is  God  therefore  unpaternal  ?  Is  our  case, 
after  all,  so  very  unlike  that  of  other  children  ? 
What  son  is  he  whom  the  judicious  father  chas- 
teneth  not?  Does  any  wise  parent  neglect  to 
act  on  that  old-world  injunction,  "  Correct  thy  son 
while  there  is  hope,  and  let  not  thy  soul  spare  for  his 
crying?  "  Nay,  the  rod  is  not  spared  in  any  well- 
ordered  household,  in  order  that  the  child  may  not 
be  spoiled.  Sometimes,  even  his  home  is  broken 
up,  and  he  is  sent  out,  sorely  against  his  will,  into 
what  he  considers  the  stormy  cold  and  dark.  He 
weeps,  he  wails,  he  suffers  —  suffers  apparently  as 
much  as  the  man  with  his  manly  troubles.  It  is 
most  touching,  those  distressful  tones  and  features 
and  contortions  with  which  the  little  one  shrinks 
back  from  what  the  parent  decides  must  be  done. 
"  Poor  child  !  "  says  the  heart  of  the  bystander. , 
44  Poor  child  !  "  say  much  more  the  softer  hearts  of 
sisters  and  mothers  ;  and  the  moisture  gathers  fast 
in  their  eyes  as  they  look  on.  It  would  be  hard 
to  show  that  yon  yearling,  drenched  in  tears  and 
piteous  exclamations,  is  not  suffering  as  much  as 
most  dying  men.  Yet  his  father  is  firm.  He  carries 
through  his  plans  as  a  business  man,  his  plans  as  a 
household  providence,  his  plans  for  training  that 


86  FOURTH  LECTURE. 

particular  child,  without  bating  one  jot.  He  trans- 
fers him  from  one  school  to  another,  from  one  physi- 
cian to  another,  from  one  home  to  another ;  albeit 
it  must  be  through  a  night  of  lowering  looks,  a  sharp 
east  wind  of  expostulations,  and  a  free  rain  of  tears. 
Is  this  treatment  anything  against  the  affection  of 
the  parent?  Does  any  reasonable  person  conclude 
that  firm  father  to  be  either  cruel  or  injudicious  ? 
Perhaps  every  sensible,  experienced  man  would 
think  him  cruel  and  injudicious  if  he  should  neglect 
that,  for  the  present,  painful  discipline.  —  Now  what 
are  these  grown-up  men  about  us  but  merest  chil- 
dren before  God  ?  And  when  we  find  the  Heavenly 
Father  correcting  them  after  the  manner  of  earthly 
fathers  —  a  manner  that  we  justify  and  even  confess 
to  be  required  by  an  enlightened  and  wise  tender- 
ness —  why  do  we  lift  our  eyebrows  with  complain- 
ing wonder  ?  Is  it  any  more  than  the  usual  treat- 
ment of  well-loved  and  wisely  managed  little  ones  ? 
See,  third,  that  we  have  tasks  and  burdens  put 
upon  us  which,  doubtless,  G-od  could  spare  us,  so  far 
as  mere  power  is  concerned.  Cares,  watchfulness, 
painful  inquiries,  various  true  work  of  body  and 
mind,  personal  sacrifices  of  strength  and  time  and 
property  for  the  good  of  others  —  such  things  are 
imposed,  sometimes  very  largely,  on  all  our  men 
and  women  by  the  present  scheme  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence. —  Well,  is  not  this  the  way  little  children 
are  accustomed  to  be  treated  by  wise  and  tender 
fathers  ?  Do  not  such  fathers  aim  to  accustom  their 


PATERNAL  ANALOGIES.  87 

children  gradually  to  effort  of  body  and  mind  — 
to  think,  plan,  take  care,  conquer  obstacles,  bind 
themselves  to  diligence  and  order,  task  themselves 
at  schools,  ply  various  odds  and  ends  of  manual 
work  about  the  house  or  the  farm  or  the  shop 
—  true  tasks  and  burdens,  all  of  them,  to  child- 
hood ?  These  little  burden-bearers  are  warmly 
loved.  Pecuniarily,  perhaps,  their  parents  could 
afford  to  allow  perpetual  holiday.  But  they  are 
too  sensible  and  experienced  and  intelligently 
affectionate  to  do  any  such  thing.  Those  children 
must  have  character.  They  must  be  prepared  for 
a  useful  and  honorable  maturity.  So  they  must 
bear  the  yoke  in  their  youth.  And  those  kind 
parents,  without  hesitation  and  with  the  high  ap- 
proval of  all  experienced  lookers-on,  proceed  by  de- 
grees to  impose  that  yoke  according  to  the  day  and 
the  strength  of  the  little  children.  —  Now,  what 
are  these  grown-up  people  about  us  but  so  many 
merest  children  before  God  ?  And  when  we  find 
their  Heavenly  Father  laying  upon  them  —  laying 
upon  us  —  tasks  to  do  and  burdens  to  bear  which 
His  almightiness  could  well  spare  us,  in  case  it 
were  good  for  us  to  be  spared,  shall  we  behave  as 
though  we  have  fallen  on  a  very  mysterious  and 
stumbling  state  of  things,  a  state  of  things  that  must 
be  laboriously  cleared  up  by  besoms  of  both  logic 
and  faith  before  we  can  admit  our  God  to  be  wise 
and  kind  ?  He,  too,  has  the  character  of  His  chil- 
dren to  look  after.  He,  too,  has  their  honorable 


88  FOURTH  LECTURE. 

and  useful  and  happy  future  to  provide  for.  Are 
we  any  better  than  little  children  in  His  presence  ? 
Why  should  He  not  give  us  the  usual  treatment  of 
well-loved  and  wisely  managed  little  ones  ? 

See,  fourth,  that  we  are  always  required  to  obey, 
often  without  reasons  assigned.  Persons  of  ripe  and 
even  hoary  years  are  not  allowed  to  have  their  own 
way.  The  laws  of  the  land  say,  No.  Above  all,  the 
laws  of  God  say,  No.  Bearing  down  most  compre- 
hensively on  the  lives  and  even  the  thoughts  and 
feelings  of  the  oldest  and  best  developed  among  us, 
the  laws  of  Nature,  with  their  penalties,  bring  us  the 
Divine  wishes  in  unmistakable  accent  of  command. 
Ye  shall — ye  shall  not.  No  matter  if  we  are 
kings,  we  must  obey.  No  matter  if  we  are  sages, 
we  must  obey.  No  matter  if  we  are  venerable 
patriarchs,  we  must  obey.  Nor  are  reasons  in  full 
always  given  us  for  these  commands.  Sometimes 
there  is  only  the  simple  expression  of  the  sovereign 
Divine  will.  It  is  purely  a  case  of  unexplained 
and  unexplainable  authority.  We  cannot  see  why 
the  law  was  established.  So  God  has  chosen  ;  this 
is  all  we  can  say  of  the  matter.  —  Well,  in  this  re- 
spect we  are  treated  like  little  children  ;  as  we  are, 
before  God,  though  our  locks  are  silvered  with  age 
and  wisdom.  Are  not  wise  and  kind  parents  wont 
to  insist  on  obedience  from  their  little  ones  ?  Are 
they  always  careful  to  give  intelligible  reasons  for 
their  biddings  ?  Obedience  is  the  fundamental 
principle  of  all  thrifty  rising  households.  Rever- 


PATERNAL  ANALOGIES.  89 

ence  for  parental  authority,  as  such,  is  required. 
The  narrow  intelligence  and  experience  of  child- 
hood cannot  always  have  matters  explained  to  them, 
but  must  learn  to  do  things  simply  because  the 
parent  wills  them.  Do  I  bring  certain  strange 
things  to  your  ears?  On  the  contrary,  are  they 
not  things  that  have  been  generally  understood 
among  thoughtful  persons  from  the  foundation  of 
the  human  world?  Do  we  blame  these  parents 
who  insist  on  being  obeyed  ?  Do  we  pity  these  lit- 
tle children  who  must  submit  to  authority  ?  Not 
at  all.  We  blame  the  parents  and  pity  the  chil- 
dren if  other  principles  are  allowed.  We  know 
that  both  parties  are  in  a  fair  way  to  ruin.  And 
when  God,  our  Heavenly  Father,  puts  us  who  are 
called  adults,  but  who  are  nothing  more  than  little 
children  before  Him,  upon  a  regimen  of  obedience, 
and  strenuously  insists  upon  it  that,  instead  of  doing 
as  we  please,  we  shall  go  by  rules  of  His  providing 
—  sometimes  unexplained  riles  —  shall  we  wonder 
as  if  we  had  never  heard  of  such  things  being  done 
before  by  the  kindest  and  wisest  of  parents  ?  Shall 
we  feel  aggrieved  and  sore  as  to  rights  and  liberties, 
as  though  we  have  not  been  heartily  approving  and 
commending,  every  day  of  our  lives,  just  the  same 
treatment  of  other  little  children  by  their  earthly 
parents  ?  What  are  we,  grown  up-men  and  women 
as  we  are  —  what  are  we  but  merest  children  before 
God? 

See,  fifth,  that  we  are  kept  in  a  state  of  close  de- 


90  FOURTH  LECTURE. 

pendence  on  G-od,  and  under  a  necessity  for  daily 
appealing  to  Him  for  support,  information,  and  guid- 
ance. You  know  how  the  Christian  Scriptures  put 
our  case.  It  is  God  who  really  provides  for  us 
everything  we  have.  He  gives  us  our  daily  bread. 
He  clothes  us,  as  well  as  the  grass  of  the  field. 
Our  education,  our  substance,  our  enjoyments,  our 
honors  ;  in  short  every  good  and  perfect  gift,  is  from 
above,  from  the  Father  of  lights.  What  have  we 
that  we  did  not  receive  ?  All  things  come  of  Thee, 
and  Thou  givest  meat  unto  all :  and  unto  Thee 
shall  all  flesh  come !  So  we  are  to  go  to  Him  for 
everything  we  want  —  for  the  daily  bread,  the  wis- 
dom that  we  lack,  guidance  in  the  path  we  tread ;  for, 
O  Lord,  it  is  not  in  man  that  walketh  to  direct  his 
steps  !  Absolute  and  perpetual  dependence  on  the 
Heavenly  Father  for  everything,  and  a  daily  look- 
ing to  Him  for  everything  —  this  is  the  law  of  life 
to  all  of  us,  even  the  strongest  and  highest  and 
proudest  and  most  self-contained  of  our  men  and 
women.  Now  suppose  this  Bible  account  of  our 
dependence  to  be  the  true  account.  What  then  ? 
Is  it  a  very  stumbling  matter,  even  to  freedom- 
idolizing  Americans?  See  how  the  little  child 
hangs  on  his  father's  hand  for  everything !  Every- 
thing is  provided  for  him.  Hector  takes  care  in 
all  directions ;  and  whether  the  puny  Astyanax  is 
to  be  fed  or  clothed  or  instructed,  it  is  the  parental 
forethought  and  busy  ministering  hand  that  oppor- 
tunely meet  the  needs  of  every  passing  day.  The 


PATERNAL  ANALOGIES.  91 

child  has  nothing  that  is  strictly  his  own.  For  what- 
ever he  wants  he  has  to  go  to  another.  So  from 
morning  to  night  he  is  saying  in  fatherly  ears,  "  I 
am  hungry ;  I  am  thirsty  —  what  is  it ;  may  I  have 
this  or  that ;  may  I  not  do  this  or  that  ?  "  In  short, 
the  father  is  the  treasury  to  which  the  child  looks 
and  from  which  he  draws,  under  such  limitations  as 
that  father  chooses  to  impose,  every  hour  of  the  day. 
No  property  in  stock  is  put  into  his  hands  from 
which  to  supply  himself.  From  hour  to  hour  he 
must  appeal  to  the  judgment  and  bounty  of  the  sire. 
This  is  the  law  of  our  households,  of  the  wisest 
and  kindest  of  them.  Is  there  any  thing  unreason- 
able in  this,  considering  wfiat  little  children  are  ? 
Anything  oppressive,  harsh,  unduly  exacting,  unnat- 
ural, considering  what  little  children  are  ?  To  be 
sure,  there  is  not  very  much  liberty,  independence 
—  as  men  sometimes  use  these  words  —  in  it ;  not 
very  much  of  the  principle  expressed  in  such  words 
as,  "  I  do  not  care  for  you,''  "  I  am  as  good  as  any- 
body :  "  but  there  is  fitness,  order,  safety,  and  a 
chance  for  happiness,  usefulness,  and  religion  in  it. 
Who  thinks  the  worse  of  a  father  for  binding  up 
his  ignorant,  inexperienced,  incautious,  and  way- 
ward child  in  such  a  system  of  daily  dependence 
and  appeal  ?  You  think  the  better  of  him  for  it. 
You  would  heartily  condemn  his  lack  of  judgment, 
were  he  to  take  a  different  course.  Is  the  man  in- 
sane ?  Does  he  know  anything  whatever  of  the 
nature,  tendencies,  and  interests  of  little  children  ? 


92  FOURTH  LECTURE. 

—  Well,  what  are  we,  grown-up  people,  but  little 
children  Godward  ?  And  why  is  it  not  in  the 
highest  degree  reasonable  that  our  Heavenly  Father 
should  make  our  narrowness  and  inexperience  hang 
daily  and  hourly  on  His  wisdom  and  goodness  for 
supplies,  and  should  require  us  to  go  to  Him  with 
our  asking  for  whatever  we  want  ?  If  this  is  a 
bondage,  it  is  such  a  bondage  as  sensible  men  know 
is  natural  and  necessary  to  the  condition  of  little 
children.  Little  children  cannot  do  without  it. 
Their  liberty  has  to  be  sacrificed  to  their  safety. 

See,  sixth,  that  we  are  not  told  of  all  the  Divine 
affairs  ;  that  those  we  are  told  of  are  often  allowed 
to  seem  inexplicable,  unwise,  and  even  unrighteous, 
especially  to  first  glances.  Men  sometimes  complain 
because  the  Christian  Scriptures  are  so  silent  on 
many  points  of  curious  and  interesting  inquiry. 
Much  more  show  of  reason  have  they  to  complain 
of  the  silence  of  Nature.  Well,  it  is  true  that  God 
does  not  see  fit  to  answer  all  our  questions,  even  all 
our  theological  questions.  Some  of  His  matters  He 
keeps  wholly  to  Himself.  Others,  of  which  we 
are  allowed  glimpses,  are  far  from  being  well 
cleared  up  as  to  either  the  meaning,  the  wisdom,  or 
even  the  righteousness  of  them.  And  many  of 
His  dealings  and  statements  —  for  natural  laws  and 
providences  are  His  statements  —  we  are  obliged  to 
take  altogether  on  trust.  Does  not  the  explanation, 
in  part,  lie  in  the  fact  that  we  are  little  children  — 
our  old  men,  our  great  men,  our  statesmen,  our  phi- 


PATERNAL  ANALOGIES.  93 

losophers,  and  all  —  merest  infants  relative  to  the 
Heavenly  Father  ?  We  are  treated  as  all  earthly 
fathers  of  average  discretion  are  in  the  habit  of 
treating  their  offspring  during  their  tender  years. 
Which  of  them  tells  himself  and  his  affairs  to  the 
child  of  four  or  even  twelve  years,  absolutely  with- 
out reserve  ?  Some  things  he  keeps  back  because 
they  cannot  be  understood,  some  because  they 
would  be  misunderstood,  some  because  they  would 
be  flagrantly  hurtful  to  that  early  age.  And 
such  things  as  he  does  talk  freely  about  —  does  he 
undertake  the  hopeless  task  of  clearing  up  their 
every  aspect  to  that  as  yet  scanty  intelligence  ? 
When  it  fails  to  see,  as  it  often  does,  the  full  mean- 
ing of  his  conduct,  or  the  good  judgment  of  it, 
or  the  right  of  it,  does  he  foolishly  consume  his 
time  and  strength  on  the  impossible  task  of  ex- 
plaining and  justifying  his  comprehensive  and  far 
reaching  plans  and  movements  to  that  glow-worm 
understanding?  He  knows  better.  However  affec- 
tionate, he  declines  to  do  so  foolish  a  thing.  And 
may  not  God,  though  tenderness  itself,  decline  to  do 
the  like  ?  What  are  our  maturest  understandings 
in  the  presence  of  His  great  plans  ?  What  living 
man  has  breadth  of  view  enough  to  take  in  any- 
thing more  than  the  smallest  angle  of  those  Divine 
schemes  and  movements  all  of  which  embrace  the 
universe  and  fill  eternity  ?  It  is  a  matter  of  invin- 
cible necessity  that  sometimes  Divine  conduct,  which 
really  is  fair  and  glorious  as  the  day,  should  bear  to 


94  FOURTH  LECTURE. 

us  as  mere  gazers  a  very  different  aspect :  it  is  only 
as  believers  that  either  the  children  manward  or  the 
children  God  ward  can  do  full  justice  to  their  father, 
human  or  Divine.  The  man-father  accordingly 
asks  and  expects  his  children  to  trust  him  where 
from  the  nature  of  the  case  they  cannot  judge  of 
his  conduct ;  and  everybody  says  the  demand  is 
reasonable.  And  may  not  the  God- Father  also 
put  His  children  on  trusting  Him  in  similar  cases  ; 
and  everybody  be  bound  to  say  and  feel  that  His 
demand  is  reasonable  ? 

Such  are  sample  maculaB.  They  fully  represent 
the  scope  and  weight  of  the  whole  class  of  nat- 
ural shadows,  umbrae  and  penumbras,  human  and 
extra-human,  for  which  God  may  be  thought  re- 
sponsible. He  is  not  to  be  thought  responsible  for 
the  sad  moral  condition  of  mankind  —  as  I  shall, 
almost  immediately,  attempt  to  show.  Assuming 
this  for  the  moment,  we  have  in  those  stern-featured 
ways  of  Divine  Providence  just  cited  the  gist  and 
essential  variety  of  all  those  maculae  in  Nature 
which  seem  to  cast  interrogation  points  toward 
Heaven.  They  are  the  gravest  of  all.  In  their 
scope  they  sweep  the  whole  field  of  natural  evil  — 
at  least  this  side  of  the  essential  constitution  of 
man.  If  these  do  not  mean  anything  as  against 
even  a  paternal  regard  in  God  for  all  His  creatures, 
there  is  nothing  in  the  whole  night-side  of  Nature 
that  does.  But  they  do  not  mean  any  such  thing. 
See  how  much  they  are  like  the  shadows  of  our 


PATERNAL  ANALOGIES.  95 

childhood.  The  kindest  of  fathers  make  these : 
why  may  not  a  Kindest  of  Fathers  make  those  ? 
Surely  we  ought  not  to  lift  our  eyebrows  in  com- 
plaining wonder,  when,  being  little  children  God- 
ward,  we  find  ourselves  treated  as  little  children  by 
Him  ;  treated  as  wise  and  loving  earthly  fathers  are 
wont  to  treat  their  children  with  the  general  ap- 
proval of  mankind.  Even  the  children  themselves 
do  not,  in  general,  suspect  either  want  of  judgment 
or  of  knowledge  or  of  love  to  themselves  in  such 
treatment.  They  may  do  it  for  a  moment  in  a  pet : 
but  in  general  they  possess  that  instinctive  sense  of 
their  own  narrowness  as  to  faculty  and  experience 
which  forbids  their  concluding  against  the  father  on 
such  grounds.  They  trust  and  love  him  notwith- 
standing. They  mutely  say  to  themselves,  "  He 
knows  best."  They  silently  hearken  to  the  filial 
instinct  of  trust  within  them  which  says,  "  He 
means  it  for  good  ;  it  is  the  best  that  can  be  done 
under  the  circumstances."  If  a  little  child  should 
be  found  habitually  suspicious  and  sour  toward  his 
father  on  such  grounds,  every  beholder  would  con- 
demn the  Phenomenon,  and  would  not  hesitate  to 
pronounce  him  very  unreasonable,  very  foolish, 
very  unamiable,  and  very  unnatural.  It  is  felt  at 
once  that  such  conduct  is  the  fault  of  a  perverse, 
unfilial  heart,  rather  than  of  a  stumbled  under- 
standing. And  why  should  not  we  condemn  our- 
selves —  we  adult  persons,  and  yet  mere  children  be- 
fore God  —  and  say  it  is  the  fault  of  our  wayward 


96  FOURTH  LECTURE. 

hearts,  if  we  look  with  coldness  and  distrust  on  our 
Heavenly  Father  on  account  of  such  treatment  as 
He  gives  us  in  common  with  all  wisest  and  best  of 
this  world's  fathers  ?  We  ouo;ht  to  know  better. 

o 

The  consciousness  of  the  mere  nothingness  of  our 
powers,  of  our  stark  childhood  and  even  infancy,  as 
offsetted  to  the  Divine  plans  and  ways,  should  make 
these  adverse  seemings  go  for  nothing.  -  Shall  we 
presume  to  be  stumbled  at  the  Heavenly  Father  for 
doing  what  is  specially  characteristic  of  the  best 
class  of  earthly  fathers,  in  proportion  to  their  wise 
affection  and  solid  greatness  ?  Indeed,  the  maculae 
are  really  faculae  ;  torches  to  illustrate  the  true 
paternal  character  of  God.  The  harmonies,  induc- 
tions, and  Baconics  of  Nature  interpret  its  shadows 
into  lights. 

But,  thinks  one,  there  is  this  great  difference 
between  the  case  of  the  earthly  father  and  that  of 
the  Heavenly.  The  one  has  to  accept  and  deal 
with  human  nature  and  its  fundamental  conditions 
as  he  finds  them :  the  other  had  the  making  of  this 
nature  and  its  conditions.  The  human  father  is 
himself  a  creature,  with  very  limited  powers :  the 
Heavenly  Father  is  the  Almighty  Creator,  to  whose 
greatness  nothing  is  impossible  nor  hard.  That 
great  Father  could,  with  the  greatest  ease,  have 
prevented  the  necessity  for  such  unpleasant  deal- 
ings by  giving  us  a  different  nature,  or  by  omnipo- 
tently manipulating  that  nature  at  the  promptings 
of  an  infinite  wisdom.  Would  anv  wise  and  kind 


PATERNAL  ANALOGIES.  97 

earthly  father  subject  his  children  to  such  unpleas- 
ant features  of  treatment  unless  he  were  compelled 
to  do  so  ?  Is  the  Infinite  Father  compelled  ? 

My  friend,  do  you  know  what  the  word  "  Al- 
mighty "  means  ?  Do  you  not  know  that  it  means 
physical  power?  Compelled  —  yes,  I  reverently 
answer,  compelled,  in  a  sense  and  under  the  cir- 
cumstances ;  compelled  by  His  own  wise  and  right- 
eous heart.  For,  just  consider.  The  nature  which 
God  has  given  man  is  the  noblest  style  of  nature 
known.  It  is  even  the  noblest  conceivable.  It  is 
a  moral  nature  ;  capable  of  knowing,  admiring,  lov- 
ing, freely  choosing,  and  magnificently  possessing 
and  enjoying  God  and  virtue  in  apparently  ever- 
increasing  degrees.  No  other  nature  is  capable  of 
so  high  an  order  of  enjoyment  as  this.  No  other 
can  glorify  the  Maker  so  much.  The  intelligent 
appreciation  and  voluntary  homage  of  such  a  being 
must  be  the  most  precious  and  dear  thing  on  which 
the  Eternal  Father  looks  down.  What  is  the  music 
of  the  spheres  compared  with  that  of  a  free,  intel- 
ligent, loving  soul !  What  are  the  glories  of  the 
day  or  of  the  night  compared  with  the  beauties  and 
majesties  of  virtue !  No,  O  Pyrrho,  there  is  no 
kind  of  created  nature  so  noble  as  that  we  possess. 
You  cannot  conceive  of  another  as  noble  —  with 
such  glorious  possibilities.  Where  is  the  man  who 
is  prepared  to  come  forward  and  prove,  I  do  not 
say  to  a  demonstration,  but  to  a  probability,  that 
God  could  have  done  a  wiser  and  better  thing  than 
7 


98  FOURTH  LECTURE. 

give  us  such  a  nature  as  this?  Who  knows  it? 
Who  will  presume  to  say  it  ?  Indeed,  are  not  the 
probabilities  all  the  other  way  ?  —  Well,  if  we  are 
to  have  a  moral  nature,  it  must  receive  from  the 
Creator  a  treatment  in  harmony  with  that  kind  of 
nature  —  must  it  not  ?  It  must  have  moral  treat- 
ment ;  it  cannot  consistently  be  treated  as  a  stone 
on  a  system  of  pure  physical  force.  To  what  ex- 
tent physical  power  can  enter  into  the  best  system 
of  moral  treatment  is  evidently  no  easy  problem. 
Where  is  the  reasonable  man  who  will  pretend  that 
the  problem  is  easy,  and  is  ready  with  his  proof  that 
probably  physical  omnipotence  can  enter  that  best 
system  so  largely  as  to  make  the  case  of  the  Heav- 
enly Father  with  His  children  essentially  unlike 
that  of  earthly  fathers  with  their  children?  On 
the  contrary,  the  cases  must  be  essentially  alike ; 
because  both  contemplate  moral  beings  under  what 
is  essentially  moral  treatment.  Whatever  minor 
differences  exist,  the  treatment  must  in  either  case 
be,  in  the  main,  suited  to  the  nature  acted  on.  It 
must  be  genuinely  moral. 

So  it  appears  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  Heav- 
enly Father's  way  of  dealing  with  His  children  but 
what  should  be  allowed  consistent  with  the  largest 
measure  of  tenderness  on  His  part  toward  them. 
Indeed,  this  way  of  dealing  is,  under  the  circum- 
stances, a  positive  evidence  of  such  tenderness. 

This  on  the  one  side.  On  the  other,  behold,  bed- 
ded in  the  constitution  and  course  of  Nature  and 


LAW  OF  THE  INFINITE.  99 

as  solid  as  any  science  that  ever  was  studied,  five 
Great  Laws,  which  we  have  only  to  set  in  the  light 
and  breathe  upon,  in  order  to  bring  out  on  each  in 
lustrous  characters  these  words  hidden  in  them 
from  the  beginning :  SACRED  TO  THE  FATHERLY 
LOVE  OF  GOD.  LAUS  DEO. 

THE  LAW  OF  THE  INFINITE.  We  reverently  ap- 
proach the  Divine  Nature.  We  look  at  its  knowl- 
edge, and  lo,  it  is  omniscience.  We  look  at  its 
power,  and  lo,  it  is  almightiness.  We  look  at  its 
duration,  and  lo,  it  is  eternity.  If  we  proceed  to 
look  at  its  moral  character,  shall  we  not  continue 
this  finding  of  immensities  —  shall  we  not  find  its 
moral  traits  laid  out  on  the  same  grand  scale  as  its 
natural  ?  It  is  to  be  presumed.  Proportionateness 
and  equilibrium  are  the  habit  of  Nature. 

The  Divine  Nature  is  eternal.  This  means  an 
eternity  of  moral  practice  —  good  or  bad.  And 
this,  according  to  the  way  of  all  the  moral  natures 
we  happen  to  know,  means  in  God  a  present  good- 
ness or  badness  as  colossal  as  that  Past  through 
which  it  has  been  exercising.  It  has  acquired  an 
infinite  momentum  in  moving  down  that  long  and 
mighty  slope.  It  has  the  habit,  the  inveteracy,  the 
solidarity,  the  amplitude  of  innumerable  chronolo- 
gies. And,  to-day,  by  virtue  of  that  amazing  prac- 
tice, God  stands  at  the  head  of  the  universe,  either 
the  best  Being  in  it  or  the  worst.  He  burns  toward 
His  creatures  with  an  awful  malevolence  or  with 
a  benevolence  more  glorious  than  the  brightest  of 
His  myriad  suns. 


100  FOURTH  LECTURE. 

His  infinite  reason  and  conscience  imply  the 
same  thing.  He  sees  with  unbounded  clearness 
the  unbounded  beauty  and  majesty  of  virtue,  and 
its  unbounded  importance  in  a  Being  clothed  with 
such  powers  and  occupying  such  a  position  as  Him- 
self. It  is  in  the  very  focus  of  His  omniscience 
that  He  is  under  infinite  obligation  to  gloriously 
love  His  creatures  and  do  for  them  according  to 
His  splendid  opportunities.  Their  very  helpless- 
ness in  His  hands  is  itself  a  piteous  appeal  for  gen- 
tleness and  tenderness.  He  meets  that  appeal  and 
fulfills  that  obligation,  or  He  does  not.  If  He  does 
not  —  if  in  this  blaze  of  manifestation  He  neglects 
to  play  His  magnificent  role  in  all  its  entirety,  not- 
withstanding it  involves  not  the  slightest  difficulty 
to  Himself —  He  incurs  an  infinite  guilt.  To  perse- 
vere in  this  course,  on  through  the  measureless 
stretches  of  Forever,  despite  the  beseechings  of 
such  an  intelligence  and  of  a  universe  whose  every 
need  is  always  before  Him  —  what  a  stress  and 
audacity  of  depravity  it  requires!  From  the  na- 
ture of  the  case  it  must  be  stupendous ;  from  the 
nature  of  the  case  it  must  be  incalculable.  Such 
another  sinner  the  universe  does  not  hold.  He 
deliberately  sacrifices,  age  after  age,  in  the  face  of 
infinite  light,  an  infinite  good  in  virtue  itself  and  in 
all  the  glorious  results  which  perfect  virtue,  armed 
with  omnipotence  and  omniscience,  could  secure. 
So  He  is  infinitely  righteous  or  infinitely  unright- 
eous, infinitely  benevolent  or  infinitely  malevolent. 


LAW  OF  CONSCIENCE.  101 

Which  is  it  ?  This  moral  character  which,  what- 
ever it  may  be,  harmonizes  in  its  proportions  with 
the  other  parts  of  His  nature  —  is  it  that  glorious 
goodness  which  insures  toward  all  His  creatures  a 
grand  paternal  tenderness,  or  is  it  that  appalling 
badness  which  insures  to  them  the  government  of 
an  infinite  demon  ?  Look  about  you.  Is  it  such  a 
government  you  and  I  are  living  under  ?  Is  the 
state  of  this  world  as  bad  as  almighty  malevolence 
could  make  it  ?  Suppose  a  fiend,  panoplied  in  om- 
nipotence and  omnipotent  subtlety,  to  set  himself 
to  make  the  universe  as  corrupt  and  miserable  as 
he  could ;  would  he  get  no  nearer  his  object  than 
such  majestic  heavens  as  those,  and  such  fair  and 
on  the  whole,  happy  world  as  this  ?  Preposterous. 
So  we  must  take  the  golden  horn  of  the  dilemma. 
God  is  as  much  the  best  as  He  is  the  greatest. 
The  Father  is  the  best  of  fathers.  He  is  tender- 
ness itself  toward  His  children :  and  all  His  shaded 
measures  with  us  are  as  truly  conceived  in  an  ex- 
quisitely benignant  spirit  as  are  those  other  meas- 
ures whose  radiant  faces  pour  delight  on  ah1  eyes. 

THE  LAW  OF  CONSCIENCE.  One  part  of  the 
law  of  conscience  is  that  pain  shall  follow  conscious 
wrong-doing,  and  pleasure  conscious  right-doing. 
Another  part  is  that  the  father  who  hates  or  is 
indifferent  to  his  little  children  shall  be  deemed 
cruel  and  monstrous.  The  pressure  of  this  law  is 
universally  felt.  The  Maker  has  evidently  framed 
it  into  the  constitution  of  mankind.  Make  your 


102  FOURTH  LECTURE. 

inductions;  you  shall,  in  the  regular  way,  find  it 
as  much  a  law  of  Nature  as  is  the  law  of  gravita- 
tion. You  can  overcome  gravitation  and  go  away 
aeronautically  from  the  earth,  instead  of  going  to- 
ward it.  So  you  can  overcome  remorse  for  known 
sin  and  make  it  a  remorse  for  holiness ;  so  you  can 
overcome  your  horror  of  the  man  who  hates  and 
tortures  his  own  little  children  and  perhaps  con- 
vert that  horror  into  a  liking.  But,  for  all  that,  the 
horror  is  as  natural  to  man  as  gravity  is  to  matter. 
So  is  the  connection  of  pain  with  conscious  wrong- 
doing. Both  are  cosmopolitan.  Both  belong  to 
human  nature.  No  clime  nor  country  nor  class 
nor  culture  nor  capacity  nor  condition  where  they 
are  not  at  home.  How  came  this  ?  Did  God  give 
these  things  to  human  nature  because  He  could  not 
help  it ;  because  He  could  not  have  a  human  nature 
without  it  ?  Nay ;  there  are  just  enough  triumphs 
over  the  law  to  show  well  the  possibility  of  dispens- 
ing with  it.  Men  do  sometimes  succeed  in  revers- 
ing the  poles  of  conscience,  and  come  to  feel  only 
pleasure  in  vice  and  pain  in  courses  that  look 
toward  virtue.  What  individual  men  do  for  them- 
selves sometimes,  God  might  have  done  for  the 
race  always.  He  might  have  set  the  needle  of  the 
entire  human  conscience  astray  from  the  begin- 
ning. Had  He  so  chosen,  He  might  have  made 
the  universal  moral  sense  of  the  world  sing  jubi- 
lees over  sin  and  dirges  over  holiness.  Why  did 
He  not?  Doubtless  because  He  wanted  to  have 


LAW  OF  PATERNITY.  103 

men  virtuous.  Natural  laws  tell  God's  wishes  as 
plainly  as  any  speech  can  do.  When  we  are 
benevolent,  He  says  sweetly  in  our  ear,  "Well 
done" — more  sweetly  than  Orpheus  or  Apollo 
ever  sang.  When  we  are  malevolent,  He  says  bit- 
terly in  our  ear,  "111  done" — more  bitterly  than 
ever  rue  or  wormwood  spake  to  the  tongue.  It  is 
because  He  greatly  wants  men  the  world  over  to 
love  rather  than  hate.  This  shows  what  He  is. 
Of  course  His  own  character  is  congruous  with  His 
wishes.  He  who  profoundly  wishes  all  men  to 
love  each  other,  Himself  profoundly  loves  all  men. 
He  has  Himself  the  virtue  which  He  so  earnestly, 
persistently,  and  universally  wishes  others  to  pos- 
sess. He  loves  it,  after  the  fashion  of  a  Divine 
Nature.  He  lays  Himself  out  for  it  and  its  affili- 
ated felicities,  in  all  this  human  domain,  after  the 
fashion  of  a  Divine  life.  He  is  a  true  Father.  His 
good-will  to  men  is  splendidly  paternal. 

THE  LAW  OF  PATERNITY.  Look  about  you 
among  human  parents.  Do  they  not,  almost  with- 
out exception,  tenderly  love  their  little,  dependent, 
helpless  children  ?  Is  not  that  person  considered 
almost  a  monster  who  approaches  a  state  of  heart- 
lessness  toward  those  who  lisp  toward  him  the 
name,  father?  Is  not  parental  love  an  instinct 
through  all  the  graded  parentage  of  the  brute  king- 
doms? The  birds,  the  quadrupeds,  the  fishes  — 
animals,  domestic  or  wild  —  how  the  feeblest  and 
most  timid  of  them  will  flame  forth  in  reckless  self- 


104  FOURTH  LECTURE. 

exposure  to  defend  their  young !  Even  the  philos- 
opher who  is  parent  of  an  ingenious  theory,  the 
author  who  is  parent  of  a  creditable  book,  the 
inventor  who  is  parent  of  a  useful  machine,  the  dis- 
coverer who  is  parent  of  an  important  science  or 
fraction  of  a  science,  the  artist  who  is  parent  of  an 
excellent  statue  or  painting,  the  statesman  who  is 
parent  of  a  wise  measure  of  national  policy,  the 
mechanic  who  is  parent  of  a  beautiful  ship  or 
house  or  watch  —  all  such  persons  find  themselves 
having  an  affection  for  the  things  toward  which 
they  sustain  this  relation  of  paternity.  They  are 
the  root  from  which  that  beautiful  greenness  has 
come  :  their  image  is  on  it ;  their  life  is  in  it ;  their 
body,  their  soul,  their  genius,  their  patience,  their 
knowledge,  their  character,  is  diffused  through  it ; 
in  short,  they  have  in  all  those  green  leaves  and 
yellow  fruits  so  many  promising  little  children  of 
their  own.  And  they  almost  invariably  conceive 
an  affection  for  them  as  such.  The  abuse  of  them 
is  the  abuse  of  themselves ;  the  praise  and  beauty 
of  them  are  the  praise  and  beauty  of  themselves. 
Such  is  the  law  of  paternity  everywhere  within 
the  range  of  our  observation  —  the  parent  loving 
its  offspring.  Among  all  the  animal  tribes,  in  earth 
and  air  and  sea  —  whether  the  child  be  flesh  and 
blood ;  or  only  the  cell  of  the  bee,  the  nest  of  the 
bird,  the  dam  of  the  beaver,  or  the  hand-work, 
mind-work  of  the  ingenious  man  —  it  is  loved  by 
its  author.  And  now  we  have  to  ask,  Is  God  the 


LAW  OF  PATERNITY.  105 

sole  exception  to  this  sweeping  law  of  paternity  ? 
Is  the  Being  who  established  this  law,  and  armed  it 
with  flails  of  remorse  —  is  He  Himself  out  of  har- 
mony with  it  ?  Does  He,  too,  not  love  His  chil- 
dren, whether  their  name  be  men  or  oxen  or 
birds  or  flowers  or  oceans  or  stars  ?  The  induc- 
tion, the  science,  is  overwhelmingly  against  it.  It 
is,  in  fact,  against  much  more  than  this ;  against 
that  parental  regard  in  God  being  anything  short 
of  a  most  exalted  and  permanent  principle.  For, 
looking  around,  you  observe  that  in  all  cases  such 
a  principle  lasts  as  long  as  there  is  occasion  for  it; 
as  long  as  the  care  of  the  parent  can  really  be  of 
service  to  the  child.  How  long,  pray,  can  the  care 
of  eternal  and  almighty  God  be  of  service  to  man 
and  the  other  creatures  !  Looking  around,  you  ob- 
serve that  the  higher  the  grade  of  the  parent,  the 
more  elevated  and  enduring  his  attachment  to  his 
offspring.  In  man  it  shows  its  noblest  quality,  and 
in  man  it  lasts  indefinitely.  Surely,  in  the  supreme 
God  we  should  look  to  see  the  principle  shine  di- 
vinely and  shine  eternally.  Looking  around,  we 
observe  that  the  higher  the  grade  of  the  offspring, 
and  the  more  completely  it  springs  from  and  de- 
pends on  the  parent,  the  greater  the  affection 
which  that  parent  expends  upon  it.  The  more 
valuable  the  discovery  which  a  man  has  made,  or 
the  machine  which  he  has  invented,  and  the  less 
he  is  indebted  to  other  sources  than  himself  in  the 
production  of  it,  the  stronger  his  regard  for  it. 


106  FOURTH  LECTURE. 

Well,  we  should  accordingly  expect  that  man,  who 
is  chief  of  God's  works  and  children  in  this  world, 
so  far  as  they  are  visible,  and  whose  whole  nature, 
body  and  soul,  substance  and  organization  of  sub- 
stance, had  its  origin  solely  in  Him,  and  hangs 
totally  on  His  hand  —  we  should  expect  that  man 
would  be  favored  above  all  the  other  visible  chil- 
dren of  God  with  His  fatherly  regard.  It  is,  in 
fact,  but  another  example  of  the  use  of  that  famous 
Baconian  induction  which  has  built  up  our  modern 
sciences.  Are  these  sciences  good  for  anything  ? 

THE  LAW  OF  CHARITY.  This  law  is,  As- 
sume a  person  innocent  till  he  is  proved  guilty. 
For  example,  assume  a  man  honest  till  you  have 
positive  evidence  that  he  is  dishonest ;  assume  that 
a  man  is  not  a  murderer  till  you  have  positive 
ground  for  believing  that  he  is  a  murderer  ;  assume 
that  a  father  is  paternal  in  his  feelings,  till  some 
positive  reason  is  found  for  believing  him  unpater- 
nal. 

It  would  be  monstrous  to  go  on  the  principle  of 
treating  a  man  as  guilty  till  he  is  proved  innocent ; 
to  treat  him  as  possessed  of  all  the  vices  till  he  has 
proved  himself  possessed  of  all  the  virtues.  It  would 
be  bare  justice  to  withhold  positive  condemnation, 
and  treatment  to  match,  from  the  man  till  he  is 
proved  guilty.  It  would  be  charity  to  consider  and 
treat  him  as  innocent  till  he  is  proved  otherwise. 
On  the  one  hand,  till  such  proof  is  brought,  justice 
requires  us  not  to  decide  against  him  ;  on  the  other 


LAW  OF  CHARITY.  107 

hand,  till  such  proof  is  brought,  charity  requires  us 
to  decide  for  him.  Where  conduct  is  equally  well 
explained  by  two  hypotheses,  we  are  to  take  the 
most  charitable  one,  instead  of  taking  the  least 
charitable,  or  instead  of  holding  ourselves  neutral 
between  the  two.  We  are  to  do  as  the  spirit  of 
kindness  would  prompt. 

Such  is  the  law  of  charity  —  a  law  that  has 
forced  itself  into  recognition  and  supremacy  in  all 
decent  judicial  proceedings  the  world  over ;  a  law 
on  which  the  theory  of  social  intercourse  has  come 
to  found  itself  without  contradiction  in  all  well-or- 
dered and  enlightened  countries ;  a  law  which  the 
humblest  among  us  knows  of,  and,  on  occasion, 
claims  the  benefit  of  as  a  matter  of  commonest 
right  rather  Jhan  of  charity ;  a  law  which  is  the 
natural  prompting  of  a  kind  and  friendly  heart ; 
a  law  born  of  the  Golden  Rule,  Do  to  others  as 
ye  would  that  others  should  do  to  you ;  a  law  found 
in  practice  most  convenient,  safe,  fruitful,  necessary 

—  saving  a  world  of  vexation,  mischief,  and  cruelty 

—  in  fine,  a  law  which,  while  not  against  justice,  is 
sublimely  beyond  it ;  something  gloriously  higher 
and  completer  ;  in  fact,  righteousness. 

Now  this  great  law  requires  us  to  postulate  the 
paternal  love  of  God.  We  are  not  to  withhold 
from  Him  the  benefit  of  that  generous  principle 
which  we  concede,  at  least  in  theory,  to  all  our  fel- 
low-men. We  are  to  give  Him  credit  for  being 
paternal  in  His  feelings  till  He  is  proved  unpa- 


108  FOURTH  LECTURE. 

ternal.  Can  He  be  proved  so?  The  attempt 
has  been  made  ;  but  we  have  seen  that  the  most 
unpleasant  features  of  His  dealing  with  us,  so  far 
from  being  of  the  nature  of  an  attack  on  His  char- 
acter as  a  Father,  are  not  only  perfectly  consistent 
with  but  even  suggestive  of  a  wise  tenderness  on 
His  part.  Under  these  circumstances,  the  law  of 
charity  steps  in  and  demands  of  us  that  we  put  a 
favorable  construction  on  appearances  ;  that  we 
take  a  friendly  and  generous  view  of  the  case  ;  that 
instead  of  judging  our  Maker  and  Father  from  the 
side  of  harshness,  or  from  the  side  of  indifference, 
we  judge  Him  from  the  side  of  good-will ;  that  we 
say  to  ourselves,  "  He  shall  be  esteemed  innocent 
till  He  is  proved  guilty."  "  He  shall  not  be  sus- 
pected even,  till  there  is  made  out  positive  ground 
for  suspicion."  "  We  will  do  to  Him  as  we  would 
that  others  should  do  to  us."  If  this  is  more  than 
just,  it  is  not  more  than  righteous. 

THE  LAW  OF  THE  GENERAL  RULE.  A  child  is 
in  such  close  and  constant  dealing  with  his  earthly 
father  that  he  cannot  well  hold  himself  in  a  state 
of  suspended  judgment  as  to  whether  his  father 
loves  him.  He  must  decide.  Well,  if  he  must 
decide,  a  very  natural  consideration  to  present 
itself  is,  Does  he  treat  me  as  if  he  loves  me  ?  And, 
in  case  some  facts  apparently  look  one  way  and 
some  the  other,  it  is  very  plain  that  he  ought  to 
decide  the  case,  not  according  to  the  exceptions  of 
treatment,  but  according  to  the  general  rule.  It 


LAW  OF  THE   GENERAL  RULE.  109 

would  be  plain  absurdity,  if  a  decision  must  be  come 
to,  not  to  base  it  on  the  general  tenor  of  the  treat- 
ment received.  If  this  is  found  to  be  as  if  his 
father  loved  him  —  if  he  finds  that,  in  general,  his 
father  treats  him  as  though  he  were  a  dear  son  — 
he  ought  to  admit  that  such  is  really  the  fact, 
though  he  cannot  explain  in  consistency  with  it  a 
few  facts  that  have  a  contrary  look.  He  is  to  go 
by  the  rule,  not  by  the  exceptions.  Suppose,  then, 
he  finds  this  to  be  the  state  of  facts.  He  hears  his 
father  say  that  he  loves  him  —  not  unfrequently. 
Not  unfrequently  he  finds  the  parent  directing  to- 
wards him  kindly  and  tender  looks,  smiling  upon 
him,  and  even  embracing  him.  He  looks  around 
and  finds  himself  sheltered  in  a  beautiful  home,  and 
sees  specially  assigned  to  him  his  own  beautiful 
rooms  filled  with  conveniences  and  beauties.  He 
finds  himself  wisely  and  abundantly  fed  arid  clothed 
and  instructed  by  his  father ;  especially  finds  him- 
self taught  by  him  carefuKy  and  well  on  moral  and 
religious  matters,  including  the  reciprocal  duties  of 
parents  and  children  ;  finds  that  his  father  tries  to 
keep  him  from  all  evil  ways,  and  to  give  him  those 
principles  and  habits  which  are  fitted  to  secure  him 
a  happy,  useful,  and  prosperous  manhood;  finds 
that  he  so  deals  with  him  that  he  is  actually,  on  the 
whole,  happy,  and  would  be  vastly  more  happy  if 
he  conformed  as  carefully  as  he  might  to  all  his 
father's  laws  and  hints  —  indeed  in  such  a  case 
would  surely  become  a  most  happy,  useful,  and  no- 


110  FOURTH  LECTURE. 

ble  man  ;  in  addition,  as  I  have  already  partly  said, 
finds  him  from  time  to  time  calling  him  by  every 
manner  of  endearing  name  and  epithet,  nursing  his 
sickness,  comforting  his  sadness,  saying  that  he 
loves  him,  assuring  him  that  on  occasion  he  could 
and  would  freely  die  for  him,  promising  him  that  if 
he  will  try  to  do  well  the  abundant  ancestral  riches 
shall  provide  more  magnificently  for  his  mature 
life  than  he  can  now  possibly  imagine  ;  finds  that 
such  things  express  the  general  drift  of  his  experi- 
ence as  a  child.  Ought  he  to  be  at  a  loss  how  to 
decide  his  problem,  though  he  is  at  a  loss  how  to 
explain  occasional  severities  of  dealing  on  the  part 
of  his  father  ?  But  if  he  is  at  no  such  loss  —  if  he 
plainly  sees  that  these  things  of  exceptional  aspect 
are  or  may  be,  after  all,  but  the  natural  expression 
either  of  an  invincible  necessity  or  of  a  wise  tender- 
ness in  the  father  —  much  more  readily  should  he 
accept  a  conviction  of  that  tenderness.  Under 
such  circumstances  the  child  always  does  accept  it ; 
indeed,  always  does  so  with  merely  a  vague  notion 
and  instinct  of  these  facts.  Does  he  not  do  rightly  ? 
Would  he  not  be  universally  condemned  were  he 
to  do  otherwise  ? 

To  apply  the  illustration.  Situated  as  we  are,  we 
cannot  avoid  taking  up  some  positive  attitude  as  to 
the  question,  What  is  the  feeling  toward  us  of  God 
our  Heavenly  Father  ?  We  must  make  a  judgment. 
And,  in  order  to  do  it,  a  natural  question  is,  How 
does  He  treat  us,  in  the  main  —  is  the  general  drift 


LAW  OF  THE   GENERAL  RULE.  Ill 

of  His  dealing  with  us  kind  and  tender  ?  Allow- 
ing that,  here  and  there,  unexplainable  facts  of  ad- 
verse appearance  exist,  it  were  monstrous  to  decide 
according  to  these  in  defiance  of  the  mighty  ma- 
jority. Better  to  defy  the  pitiful  minority.  Dark- 
browed  and  resolute  as  these  exceptions  may  seem, 
if  we  go  against  anything,  let  us  go  against  these  in 
their  weakness  and  scantiness.  These  are  a  few 
stragglers ;  the  others  a  compact  and  disciplined 
host.  For,  look  at  them !  First,  the  Great 
Father  professes  to  love  us.  To  lay  no  stress  on 
hundreds  of  written  declarations,  "  I  love  you,  I 
love  you,"  professing  to  come  from  Him  ;  the  flow- 
ers, the  songs,  the  golden  light,  the  precious  per- 
fumes, the  delicious  tastes,  all  grace  an«t  beauty  of 
form  and  feature  and  motion  abroad  in  Nature  — 
these  are  so  many  loving  words,  smiles,  caresses  of 
the  All-Maker  and  All-Father  toward  the  intelli- 
gent creatures  who  are  aware  of  them.  Who  does 
not  know  it  —  vocal  speech  is  not  the  only  language, 
the  lighting  up  and  wreathing  of  a  face  is  not  the 
only  smile,  the  pressure  of  an  arm  of  flesh  is  not 
the  only  embracing  I  O  bright-faced  sky,  O  smil- 
ing earth,  O  scented  and  singing  and  festival  springs 
and  summers,  O  innumerable  anthems  and  poetries 
of  delightful  Nature  —  ye  also  are  God's  tender 
looks  and  words  and  sacred  kisses  to  us !  Next, 
see  what  a  beautiful  home  He  has  fitted  up  for 
us ;  ceiled  with  sapphire,  floored  with  emerald, 
walled  and  curtained  with  sunsets  and  sunrises, 


112  FOURTH  LECTURE. 

upholstered  and  garnished  superbly  and  almost 
unboundedly  for  our  shelter,  our  convenience,  our 
dignity,  and  our  delight.  Then  see  what  stores  of 
heathful  and  pleasant  food  he  provides  for  us  in  the 
manifold  grains  and  fruits  ;  of  suitable  and  comely 
clothing  in  the  bolls  of  cotton,  the  fleeces  of  flocks, 
the  moils  and  spoils  of  the  silk- worm  ;  of  useful  and 
exalting  knowledge  in  the  eyes  and  ears  and  other 
organs  by  which  He  puts  us  in  communication  with 
the  wonders  of  this  wonderful  universe.  Espe- 
cially, see  how  careful  He  has  been  to  furnish  every 
man  with  a  conscience  to  inform  him  and  reform 
him  on  matters  of  right  and  wrong  ;  and  even  to  as- 
sure him  that  the  Creator  ought  to  love,  and  would 
be  greatly  guilty  were  He  not  to  love,  and,  to  the 
extent  of  His  power,  bless  His  creatures.  See  how, 
by  means  of  conscience,  and  the  laws  of  Nature,  and 
the  general  strain  of  providence  —  to  lay  no  stress 
on  the  written  laws  with  their  impressive  sanctions 
which  claim  to  have  come  from  Him  —  He  seeks  to 
influence  us  virtue-ward  and  shape  us  to  good 
principles  and  habits  ;  for,  let  it  not  be  forgotten,  all 
intelligent  observers  admit  that  the  general  flow  and 
pressure  of  nature  and  experience  are  in  favor  of 
goodness.  See  you  that  most  men  are  actually 
secured  by  His  care  so  much  happiness  that  they 
had  greatly  rather  continue  to  be  than  cease  to  be, 
though  annihilation  were  made  painless  or  even 
pleasurable.  See  you,  also,  that  it  is  consciously  in 
the  power  of  every  man  to  be  vastly  more  happy 


TOTAL  SCIENTIFIC  IMPORT.  113 

and  useful  and  noble  than  he  is,  by  carefully  im- 
proving the  opportunities  furnished  him  and  care- 
fully conforming  to  such  Divine  laws  as  he  can  dis- 
cover ;  indeed,  in  his  power  to  be  gloriously  happy 
and  noble.  See  the  Great  Father  dowering  us^ 
with  imagination  and  hope  that  kindle  and  expand 
in  a  course  of  well-doing,  and  —  while  conscience 
says,  "  Dear  one,"  and  sacredly  fondles  you  in  God's 
name  ;  and  the  Scriptures  say,  "  He  has  loved  you 
enough  to  die  for  you  "  —  see  how  that  wonderful 
fancy  and  hope,  conscience  -  prompted,  begin  to 
prophesy  in  vaguely  magnificent  speech  of  unspeak- 
able glories  that  flush  and  span  with  their  triumph- 
ant arches  your  ascending  way.  See  such  things 
making  up  the  general  rule  of  treatment  from  our 
Heavenly  Father.  Oh,  if  we  could  say  nothing  in 
explanation  of  the  occasional  somberness  of  the  pa- 
ternal Heaven  that  bends  over  us  —  if  it  were  thick- 
ly beclouded  beyond  all  falcon  glances  of  our  wisest 
and  best-1- still  our  judgment  should  refuse  to  be 
ruled  by  the  poor  and  scanty  exceptions,  and  should 
bow  instead  to  that  kingly  rule  whose  crowded  con- 
gregation of  voices  proclaim  in  sonorous  harmony  a 
loving  Father  in  heaven !  But  since  these  excep- 
tions are  explainable  and  explained  —  since  it  ap- 
pears that  they  only  show  a  dealing  common  to  and 
characteristic  of  a  wise  and  tender  human  father- 
hood over  moral  beings  —  we  yield  ourselves  with 
redoubled  cordiality  to  the  law  of  the  general  rule, 
8 


114  FOURTH  LECTURE. 

and  say  fervently,  God  our  Father  does  love  His 
little  children. 

Altogether  and  law  upon  law,  I  discern  an  Un- 
limited Love  and  Righteousness  outbeaming  from  the 
heavens.  An  unlimited  righteousness  !  This  attri- 
bute completes  in  God  a  perfect  and  glorious  com- 
petency to  govern.  Wisdom,  power,  and  duration 
without  measure  —  surmount  this  cathedral  struc- 
ture with  the  superb  roofing  and  dome  of  a  perfect 
goodness,  and  you  have  a  wondrous  palace  from 
whose  golden  gates  may  fitly  issue  the  edicts  of  a 
universal  monarchy.  Behold  a  God  who  is  abun- 
dantly able  to  manage  the  affairs  of  a  universe,  and 
fill  its  august  throne  to  infinite  advantage  !  That  a 
system  of  things  made  up  of  blind  matter  and  fallible 
intelligences  and  depraved  hearts  should  go  on  as 
well,  or  a  millionth  part  as  well,  by  itself,  as  under 
the  scepter  of  such  a  complete  Being,  is  incredible 
and  impossible.  So  He  ought  to  govern.  So  it 
would  be  an  unspeakable  wrong  to  His  creatures 
should  He  neglect  to  govern.  So,  gloriously  per- 
fect Being  as  He  is,  He  surely  occupies  the  supreme 
throne  over  all,  as  His  magnificent  duty  and  their 
magnificent  necessity  ;  giving  to  the  different  sorts 
of  things  in  the  universe  the  kind  of  government 
suited  to  each  ;  giving  to  blind  matter  the  govern- 
ment of  physical  omnipotence,  and  to  moral  beings, 
with  their  mixed  constitution,  a  mixed  government 
of  physical  force  and  moral  law.  In  which  case 
the  actual  state  of  the  world,  with  its  lights  and 


TOTAL  SCIENTIFIC  IMPORT.  115 

shadows,  its  smiles  and  its  tears  as  well,  is  through- 
out the  expression  of  a  grand  Divine  love. 

This  on  the  supposition  that  God  exists  and  is  the 
Author  of  Nature.  The  scientific  corollary  of  this 
supposition  we  find  to  be  a  fatherly  love  of  Divine 
proportions  beaming  on  the  world.  And  the  maculae 
of  all  sorts,  properly  attributable  to  God,  so  far 
from  making  against  His  goodness,  are  themselves 
parts  of  a  broad  and  consummate  scheme  of  love 
by  which  the  Heavenly  Father  ministers  to  His 
great  family. 


V. 

IN   TENEBRIS. 

ApioT€/oa  Kat  ov  Karecr^ov,  8e£ia  KOL  OVK 

HloLtjcrov  8'  aiOp^Vy  8os  8*  6<£0aX/xot(ni>  iSeo-^at. — Homer. 


V.   IN  TENEBRIS. 

1.  THIRD  OBJECTION 119 

2.  NARROW  INTELLIGENCE 119 

3.  FRAIL  BODY 121 

4.  FRAIL  REASON 123 

5.  FRAIL  SENSIBILITY 126 

6.  DEPRAVITY 132 

7.  TOTAL  SCIENTIFIC  IMPORT 138 


FIFTH  LECTURE. 


IN  TENEBRIS. 

A  NOTHER  objection  to  the  existence  of  God 
-£^-  is  drawn  from  His  OBSCURITY. 

It  is  claimed  that  a  God  would  have  made  Him- 
self more  apparent  to  men  than  He  seems  to  be. 
He  would  have  so  manifested  Himself  as  to  make 
it  impossible  for  men  to  doubt  or  to  Leglect  His 
existence.  At  least  He  would  have  done  more  in 
this  direction  than  is  observed.  A  large  class  of 
men  find  small  difficulty  in  living  with  little  or  no 
veneration  for  such  a  Being,  or  even  thought  of 
Him ;  the  faith  of  many  in  His  existence  is  trouble- 
somely  weak  ;  some  have  no  faith  whatever  ;  while 
others  positively  disbelieve. 

In  gradual  answer  to  this  objection,  I  submit  the 
following  considerations  :  — 

1.  A  perfect  revelation  of  Grod  to  human  intelli- 
gence would  be  impossible. 

Of  course,  a  finite  being  cannot  fully  understand 
one  who,  relatively  to  himself,  is  infinite.  Were  God 
to  undertake  the  task  of  revealing  Himself  to  me 
in  all  His  completeness,  in  order  to  succeed,  He 


120  FIFTH  LECTURE. 

would  be  obliged  by  the  nature  of  things  to  ex- 
pand my  intelligence  into  dimensions  like  His  own. 
Even  as  only  a  philosopher  can  well  understand  a 
philosopher,  so  only  a  God  can  fully  understand 
God.  There  is  no  help  for  it  —  to  beings  so  narrow 
as  men,  God  must  be,  in  large  part,  shrouded  in 
impenetrable  obscurity. 

This  fact,  of  necessity,  precludes  men  from  the 
most  impressive  view  of  God ;  namely,  that  of  His 
whole  nature,  with  its  entire  wealth  of  resources  — 
a  view,  of  course,  infinitely  more  magnificent  and 
memorable  than  that  fractional  view  that  is  possible 
to  us.  It  also,  of  necessity,  precludes  men  from  the 
best  class  of  natural  evidences  and  illustrations  of 
the  Divine  existence ;  that  is,  those  broader  and 
more  complex  plans  and  works  on  which  He  has 
laid  out  the  most  wisdom  and  power.  A  perfect 
Framer  of  the  universe  must  have  one  plan  that  is 
all-embracing  ;  in  which  each  thing  is  so  delicately 
framed  into  every  other  thing  throughout  space 
and  duration  as  to  make  of  the  whole  mighty  com- 
plexity a  glorious  unit.  Who  but  a  God  could 
master  such  a  scheme  as  this  ?  The  problem  of 
the  two  bodies  mathematicans  have  solved  ;  that  of 
three  bodies  yet  bids  defiance  to  analysis ;  that  of 
the  solar  system,  much  more  that  of  our  galaxy, 
much  more  still  that  of  the  stratum  of  nebulae  in 
Virgo,  is  one  which  we  never  expect  to  solve.  But 
how  much  further  beyond  us  still  is  that  universe- 
system,  in  which  every  atom  is  to  be  considered  a 


FRAIL  BODY.  121 

world,  and  every  world  is  to  be  considered,  not 
merely  in  its  mechanics,  but  in  its  metaphysics  and 
its  morals  !  But  if  we  only  could  grasp  this  all- 
comprehending  system  in  all  its  detail  of  harmonies 
and  wisdoms,  we  should,  no  doubt,  have  such  a 
regal  evidence  of  the  existence  of  a  Divine  Mind  as 
would  dwarf  into  invisibility  any  natural  proof  of 
Him  which  may  now  be  within  our  reach.  Our 
narrowness  cuts  us  off  completely  from  this  grandest 
proof.  It  can  even  make  that  proof  seem  in  parts 
positively  ill  proportioned,  incongruous,  empty,  and 
even  noxious.  We  are  like  the  little  child  of  a 
statesman.  Some  of  that  father's  smaller  domestic 
arrangements  he  understands  —  perceivos  them  to 
be  right  and  wise.  But  those  great  national  and 
international  schemes  and  movements  are  all  nebu- 
lous and  confused  to  the  unfledged  thinker.  They 
look  inexplicable.  He  sees  no  wisdom  in  them.  He 
sees  here  and  there  things  of  apparently  an  oppo- 
site character.  And  yet  this  is  the  man  with  the 
fame  of  whose  statesmanship  the  country  is  ringing ; 
and  these  the  very  works  of  his  which  shall  entitle 
him  to  his  historic  place  among  the  astutest  man- 
agers of  empires.  The  child,  because  he  is  a  child, 
is  compelled  to  miss  what  is  really  the  best  illustra- 
tion of  his  father's  greatness. 

Thus  the  very  finiteness  of  our  faculties  suspends 
a  veil  between  us  and  God. 

2.  A  revelation  of  God  much  short  of  what  our 
intelligence  could  grasp  would  consume  us. 


122  FIFTH  LECTURE. 

Suppose  God  should  take  as  much  of  His  nature 
as  we  can  understand,  and  bring  it  to  us  in  the  way 
of  adequate  personal  manifestation  to  the  senses. 
Could  we  endure  the  exhibition?  Why,  we  can 
hardly  bear  such  sights  and  sounds  as  we  ourselves 
can  produce.  We  ourselves  can  kindle  such  glory 
of  conflagration,  can  detonate  such  might  and  maj- 
esty of  sound,  as  shall  destroy  sight  and  hearing, 
and  even  shock  the  weakly  out  of  life.  And  surely 
if  God  should  come  upon  our  senses  with  such  im- 
perialism of  sights  and  sounds  as  would  appropri- 
ately represent  the  utmost  power  and  knowledge 
we  can  conceive  —  as  would  worthily  express  our 
ideas  of  Eternity  and  Almightiness  and  Omnis- 
cience —  that  moment  would  be  our  last.  Appropri- 
ate to  the  utmost  power  we  can  conceive  —  why, 
we  can  conceive  of  a  power  that  can  take  up  the 
isles  as  a  very  little  thing,  poise  a  planet  in  its  hand, 
launch  forth  a  nebula  on  the  void  as  if  it  were  an 
atom,  crush  together  instantly  into  one  palpitating 
pulp  all  known  sidereal  systems  with  as  much  ease 
as  you  do  the  beaded  cobweb  of  a  summer's  morn- 
ing !  We  could,  if  need  were,  imagine  a  power 
equal  to  still  greater  feats  than  this ;  one,  with 
reference  to  our  powers,  properly  called  infinite. 
And  I  say  what  a  show  it  would  have  to  be  to 
worthily  express,  not  merely  such  a  power  as  that, 
but  also  a  virtual  Omniscience  and  an  absolute 
Eternity !  Could  our  senses  or  even  our  lives  en- 
dure it?  Even  now,  when  the  common  lightning 


FRAIL  REASON.  123 

shoots  before  our  eyes,  how  they  quiver  back  from 
the  blinding  flame  ;  and  when  the  common  thunder 
comes  upon  us  in  some  great  crash,  how  our  ears 
and  hearts  quail  under  the  terrible  bass  !  And 
were  God  Himself  to  come  flashing  and  pealing  on 
the  world  in  all  that  outward  majesty  that  rightfully 
belongs  to  Him,  and  fitly  signifies  to  sense  the  pres- 
ence of  a  virtually  Infinite  Being,  who  of  us  would 
see  another  moment  in  the  body?  We  should 
straightway  be  dazzled  out  of  life.  Our  frighted 
senses  and  hearts  would  give  one  leap,  and  then  be- 
come motionless  forever  —  and  this  though  they 
were  a  thousand-fold  stronger  than  they  are.  The 
men  who  ask  that  God  should  personally  manifest 
Himself  to  their  senses  as  God,  know  not  what 
they  ask.  Do  they  want  to  be  driven  out  of  the 
body  by  the  fire  and  sword  of  intolerable  discover- 
ies ?  —  After  our  finiteness  has  hung  one  veil  be- 
tween us  and  God,  our  safety  as  embodied  beings 
would  compel  Him  to  interpose  another. 

3.  A  revelation  of  God  such  as  would  not  consume 
us,  would  yet  so  shake  and  derange  the  mental  facul- 
ties as  to  prevent  due  use  of  the  revelation. 

Scenes  not  sufficiently  rousing  and  awful  to 
shock  men  out  of  life,  are  often  enough  to  shock 
them  out  of  reason.  How  many  have  been  made 
idiotic  or  insane  by  appearances  which  took  fierce 
hold  of  their  imaginations  and  astonishments,  and 
by  them  so  shook  the  soul  that  it  fell  into  dreary 
ruin  !  That  terrible  fire  ;  that  fearful  explosion  ; 


124  FIFTH  LECTURE. 

that  awful  storm  or  battle ;  even  that  strange  flight 
of  meteors  ;  that  portentous  comet ;  that  bloody  sun  ; 
that  crude  marvel  of  the  Spiritualist  or  expected 
marvel  of  the  Millerite  ;  that  apparition  of  some  sort, 
from  the  airy  colossus  of  the  Brocken  to  the  ghostly 
form  in  the  weird  moonlight  —  how  it  shattered  the 
man  !  His  body  survived,  his  senses  escaped  with- 
out harm,  but  the  more  delicate  system  of  nerve 
and  brain  and  rational  thought  could  not  endure 
the  strain,  and  became  a  melancholy  wreck.  And 
so  we  see  that  it  is  not  enough  for  God  to  abstain 
from  such  manifestations  of  Himself  as  would  de- 
stroy the  body.  He  must  also  abstain  from  that 
lower  manifestation  that  would  break  down  the 
stamina  of  the  soul,  confound  the  power  of  rational 
judgment,  and  paralyze  our  faculty  for  using  a  man- 
ifestation. Should  a  being  of  virtually  infinite  glory 
and  majesty  come  on  our  senses,  or  our  thoughts, 
with  any  but  the  most  inconsiderable  fraction  of 
His  greatness,  our  feeble  souls  would  infallibly  go 
into  unhingement.  I  am  now  speaking  of  the  most 
compact  and  stoutly  built  souls.  I  \vould  not  have 
trusted  a  single  one  of  them,  though  bearing  a 
supreme  name  among  hero-worshippers,  in  the 
midst  of  even  such  phenomena  as  belonged  to  the 
breaking  up  of  the  Paleozoic  or  Mesozoic  Period. 
Such  outpour  from  above  ;  such  heaving  from  be- 
low ;  such  rendings  of  the  caves  of  Eolus  and  of 
Neptune ;  such  tourneys  and  concussions  of  the 
enfranchised  winds  and  waves  ;  such  thunderous 


FRAIL  REASON.  125 

Marseillaise  of  the  wrathful  mob  of  volcanoes,  earth- 
quakes, tornadoes,  and  oceans ;  such  an  awful  mael- 
strom of  blackness,  blaze,  sound,  and  death  ;  such 
wars  of  the  Titans  with  the  Gods  —  must  have 
twice  exterminated  every  overt  species  of  hearing 
and  seeing  animal  life  ;  first  by  affright,  and  then  by 
direct  violence.  Had  man  been  there,  though  his 
soul  had  been  boned  and  the  wed  like  Alcides, 
he  would  have  lost  his  reason.  These  delicate 
nerves  and  brains  of  ours,  that  so  bow  and  break  at 
the  approach  of  what,  after  all,  is  mere  Nature  — 
what  would  they  not  do  at  the  approach  of  the  Great 
Supernatural  in  any  fitting  circumstance  !  But 
care  must  be  taken  not  only  for  these  few  heroic 
souls,  but  for  the  much  larger  number  who  are  no 
heroes  —  for  the  many  frail ;  the  many  sick  ;  the 
many  excessively  timid,  nervous,  superstitious  ;  the 
many  ignorant,  weak-minded,  ill-balanced  persons 
scattered  everywhere  through  the  world.  For  the 
sake  of  these  —  for  the  sake  of  those  hundred  neigh- 
bors of  yours  whose  souls  are  greatly  less  firm  in 
texture  —  God  must  still  further  limit  the  public 
manifestation  of  Himself  to  the  senses.  He  does  not 
want  to  turn  the  world  into  a  Mad-house  any  more 
than  into  a  Morgue.  There  are  already  enough 
lunacies  and  unsoundnesses  of  mind  in  human 
society.  —  So  another  veil  must  be  interposed  be- 
tween man  and  God.  The  man  who  asks  that  there 
should  be  made  to  us  a  full  discovery  of  God,  knows 
not  what  he  asks.  Does  he  want  the  world  peopled 


126  FIFTH  LECTURE. 

with  Gods  instead  of  men  ?  Does  he  want  to  be- 
come a  handful  of  ashes,  or  at  least  to  be  dazzled  into 
corpsehood,  by  an  insufferable  brightness  ?  Does 
he  even  want  his  reason  and  nervous  system  to  fall 
to  pieces  under  a  manifestation  of  the  Eternal  ? 
If  not,  he  must  be  content  to  have  at  least  three 
veils  hang  between  him  and  God. 

4.  Such  a  revelation  of  Crod  as  would  not  derange 
our  minds,  would  speedily  benumb  the  faculty  of 
astonishment  and  general  sensibility,  and  so  would 
soon  cease  to  be  specially  impressive,  and  could  only 
be  resorted  to  occasionally. 

If  Deity  is  local  —  if  His  personality  is  not  uni- 
versally diffused,  but  occupies  a  limited  district, 
such  as  Christians  call  heaven  —  then  He  could  not 
make  a  permanent  personal  manifestation  of  Himself 
here  without  permanently  depriving  other  parts  of 
the  universe  of  a  manifestation.  The  most  He 
could  do  would  be  to  supply  some  standing  substi- 
tute for  Himself;  perchance  some  astonishing  Form 
to  lighten  through  the  sky  and  personate  that  Divin- 
ity which  for  the  greater  part  of  the  time  it  does 
not  include.  A  sincere  being  cannot  be  supposed 
to  do  this.  The  best  He  could  do  would  be  to  make 
an  occasional  personal  appearance  among  us  ;  and 
for  the  rest  of  the  time  supply  such  august  messen- 
gers and  other  miracles  as  should  testify  of  God  to 
human  senses  without  purporting  to  be  God,  or  to 
include  His  actual  presence.  This  is  really  the 
best  that  could  be  done.  But,  if  you  please,  we 


FRAIL  SENSIBILITY.  127 

will  suppose  it  is  not  —  we  will  suppose  that  both 
of  these  modes  of  revelation  are  permanently  open 
to  Him :  every  day  a  mighty  Form  that  really  in- 
cludes God  can  send  its  dazzling  pageant  on  our 
sight,  and  every  day  the  angels  can  fly  and  the 
dead  rise  and  Nature  tremble  in  awful  testimonial 
to  His  being  and  greatness.  How  would  such  a 
system  as  this  work  ? 

As  we  have  seen,  the  grandeur  of  the  exhibition 
must  be  greatly  moderated,  to  make  it  safe  for  either 
the  senses  or  the  intellects  of  men.  But,  within 
the  limits  of  safety,  a  very  grand  exhibition  might, 
doubtless,  be  made.  We  can  be  greatly  moved  and 
astonished  without  any  danger  to  reason.  But  we 
cannot  remain  greatly  astonished  for  any  length  of 
time,  especially  by  the  same  thing,  not  even  by  any 
variety  of  things.  As  men  now  are,  a  permanent 
astonishment  is  impossible.  No  wonder  can  con- 
tinue a  wonder  save  for  a  very  brief  period :  and 
the  greater  the  first  effect  the  sooner  it  will  be  over. 
Can  Niagara  astonish  and  awe  you  indefinitely 
long?  Ask  those  who  have  lived  out  years  by 
the  side  of  it.  Try  it  yourself.  As  soon  as  you 
perceive  the  effect  decaying,  pass  to  the  ocean,  and 
you  may  in  a  degree  renew  your  feeling  ;  but  how 
many  months  or  even  weeks  will  it  be  before  the 
sonorous  majesty  of  the  Atlantic  itself  will  abate  on 
the  familiarized  senses  !  Then  take  the  traveler's 
privilege,  and  go  on  as  swiftly  as  steam  can  carry 
you  to  another  wonder,  and  then  another.  By  a 


128  FIFTH  LECTURE. 

timely  passing  from  the  cataract  to  the  main,  from 
the  main  to  the  Alps,  from  the  Alps  to  Latin  mu- 
seum and  palace  and  cathedral,  plethoric  with  the 
glories  of  genius  and  antiquity  ;  from  these  to  the 
astonishment  of  the  Pyramids  and  Carnac  and  Lux- 
or, you  may  protract  the  interest  very  considerably  ; 
but  at  last,  and  that  after  no  long  time,  the  faculty 
of  wonder  will  become  so  numb  that  you  can  witness 
the  most  remarkable  object  with  as  little  movement 
of  soul  as  any  commonplace  object  is  wont  to  inspire. 
You  will  turn  your  face  homeward.  Why  should  you 
go  on  when  your  heart  has  become  a  mere  clod  — 
when  you  would  hardly  turn  a  corner  to  see  Ther- 
mopylae, or  climb  a  hill  to  find  Olympus  in  session  ! 
Such  is  the  common  history  of  sight-seeing.  And 
I  make  no  doubt  that,  were  God  to  appeal  to  the 
senses  of  men  daily  by  astonishing  revelations,  it 
would  not  be  long  before  we  would  be  as  little  im- 
pressed by  them  as  we  are  now  by  the  daily  sun  or 
nightly  dome  of  stars  ;  as  the  men  were  who  once 
actually  supposed  the  sun  to  be  God,  and  in  many 
a  Heliopolis  thought  every  thunder  to  be  his  voice, 
every  whirlwind  his  breath,  and  every  earthquake 
his  movement ;  as  we  theists  are  now  by  the  con- 
stant advent  of  bodies  and  souls  into  the  world 
without  any  apparent  cause  that  does  not  seem  to 
us  infinitely  inadequate.  Variety  in  the  form  of 
revelation  would  protract  the  first  astonishment  and 
awe  ;  but  despite  everything  they  would  speedily 
come  to  an  end.  Those  born  and  bred  to  such  dis- 


FRAIL  SENSIBILITY.  129 

plays  —  and  such  should  we  all  have  been  had  the 
principle  of  a  permanent  display  been  acted  on  — 
would  never  have  any  special  impression  at  all  from 
the  daily  grandeur,  any  more  than  those  who  have 
always  lived  at  Chamouni  or  Eddystone,  in  daily 
view  of  the  highest  majesty  of  the  Alps  or  the  high- 
est majesty  of  ocean.  In  order  that  any  safe  aston- 
ishing display  in  behalf  of  God  may  have  the  maxi- 
mum of  effect,  it  must  be  only  occasional. 

As  to  just  how  frequent  the  exhibition  could  be 
with  the  best  advantage,  it  would  be  hard  to  say. 
No  theory  of  maxima  and  minima  with  which  I 
am  acquainted  solves  the  problem.  But  I  am  in- 
clined to  think  that  the  man  who  made  the  round 
of  the  seven  ancient  wonders  of  the  world  once  in 
twenty  years,  got  more  impression  from  them  than 
he  would  have  done  by  seeing  them  once  in  five. 
And  I  know  that  the  friend  who  made  one  voyage 
on  the  ocean  and  saw  it  in  all  its  moods,  and  then 
was  ever  after  left  to  his  memory  and  imagination, 
carried  with  him  to  his  grave  a  grander  sense  of 
the  huge  flood  than  his  companion  of  equal  native 
sensibility  to  such  things,  whose  whole  after-life 
was  spent  upon  it ;  or  than  that  other  equal  com- 
panion who  made  his  second  and  third  voyage. 
And  what  right  have  I,  as  a  logician,  to  venture  on 
the  affirmation  that  a  single  astonishing  exhibition 
in  favor  of  God  would  not  do  as  much  with  most 
men  toward  placing  Him  in  an  impressive  light  as 
any  larger  number  of  such  exhibitions?  Indeed, 


130  FIFTH  LECTURE. 

as  facts  stand,  I  would  not  like  to  affirm  that  with 
most  a  mere  tradition  of  such  an  exhibition,  well 
told  and  well  believed,  and  then  committed  to  that 
wondrous  painter,  the  Imagination,  would  not,  on 
the  whole,  be  more  impressive  and  just  and  dura- 
bly influential  than  sight  itself.  Never  such  an 
Apelles  as  the  Imagination.  She  has  colors  on  her 
palette,  and  models  in  her  eye,  such  as  never  enter 
into  pictures  on  the  retina.  She  habitually  out- 
paints  all  the  galleries.  And  she  can,  out  of  her 
owrn  resources,  give  a  brighter  picture  of  God  and 
miracles  than  could  possibly,  with  any  safety,  burn 
its  way  through  the  lenses  of  the  eye  and  the  laby- 
rinths of  the  ear.  And  let  this  picture  have  the 
prestige  of  reality  —  let  it  be  fully  believed  in  as 
expressing  substantial  fact — arid  it  will  surpass  all 
other  pictures  in  impressiveness  as  well  as  bright- 
ness. It  will  also  surpass  all  others  in  general 
truthfulness  —  provided  its  outline  is  really  fact. 
No  doubt  sight  is  the  truest  painter  of  common 
objects ;  but  not  of  such  as  have  immeasurable 
greatness  and  excellence.  We  cannot  get  too  im- 
pressive a  conception  of  these.  The  nobler  the 
conception,  the  truer.  Let  that  supreme  colorist, 
the  Imagination,  lay  out  all  her  power  and  dip  her 
pencil  in  the  sun  ;  it  will  be  an  incomparable  pic- 
ture of  God  and  astonishing  miracle  that  she  will 
give,  and  as  much  juster  than  all  others  as  it  sur- 
passes all  others  as  a  mere  picture.  And,  further, 
a  picture  by  the  Imagination  does  not  lose  its  im- 


FRAIL  SENSIBILITY.  131 

pressiveness  by  repetition,  as  do  the  pictures  of 
sight.  One  hundred  sights  of  Niagara  will  practi- 
cally abolish  the  wonder  ;  a  hundred  sights  of  a  mir- 
acle would  practically  make  it  no  miracle  ;  but  not 
so  a  hundred  imaginations  of  these  things.  For, 
unlike  the  senses  and  the  nerves,  the  Fancy  gets 
more  skill  and  power  with  every  picture  she  makes. 
Now,  this  greatest  of  painters,  whose  canvas  is 
so  impressive,  so  true,  and  so  durably  efficient,  can 
only  work  to  advantage  under  certain  conditions. 
A  flood  of  light  on  an  object,  of  course,  takes  it 
completely  out  of  her  hands.  Sight,  in  any  of  its 
degrees,  restricts  the  freedom  of  her  pencil.  It  is 
only  when  an  object  is  given  in  mere  outline  to 
faith  —  and  sight  never  gives  an  object  in  mere 
outline  —  that  she  has  the  fullest  scope  and  motive 
for  all  the  wealth  and  witchery  of  her  art.  She 
then  has  the  inspiration  of  faith  stimulating  the 
highest  freedom  of  invention.  No,  indeed  —  I  would 
not  venture  to  say  that  the  credited  tradition  of  a 
Divine  manifestation  would  not,  with  most  persons, 
be  better  than  the  sight  of  it ;  that,  for  most,  to 
read  of  Divine  manifestations  and  miracles  in  per- 
haps distant  times  and  countries,  and  believe  in 
them,  and  then  to  leave  them  in  the  wonder- 
working hands  of  that  faculty  that  has  built  up  the 
world's  great  epics,  would  not  fasten  on  the.  mind 
the  justest  as  well  as  the  grandest  sense  of  them, 
and  warrant  the  saying,  "Blessed  are  they  who 
have  not  seen,  and  yet  have  believed !  " — Evi- 


132  FIFTH  LECTURE. 

dently,  we  must  consent  to  have  another  veil  hang 
between  us  and  God.  He  neither  wants  to  turn 
the  world  into  an  Olympus,  nor  into  a  Necropolis, 
nor  into  a  Bedlam,  nor  into  a  Boeotia.  Shall  He 
make  men  stare  till  they  are  stupid  —  make  won- 
ders so  familiar  to  them  that  they  must  cease  to  be 
wonders  ?  Whoever  asks  for  an  unstinted  revela- 
tion of  God,  knows  not  what  he  asks.  Does  he 
insist  on  being  himself  a  Divinity  ?  Does  he  want 
his  senses  and  his  life  to  shrivel  up  before  an  intol- 
erable glory?  Does  he  want  his  frighted  soul  to 
leap  into  the  abysses  of  distraction  or  idiocy  ?  Does 
he  even  want  prodigies  wasted  by  a  vulgar  fre- 
quency ;  or  by  acting  on  the  principle  that,  for 
most,  the  great  spiritual  powers,  Faith  and  Fancy, 
with  their  sunset  pencil  and  immeasurable  canvas, 
have  less  power  to  render  the  Infinite  to  the  soul 
than  has  the  gross  bodily  sight  with  at  least  three 
dense  curtains  before  it  ?  If  not,  he  must  be  con- 
tent to  have  four  veils  hang  between  him  and  God. 

5.  Such  a  revelation  of  God  as  could  be  perma- 
nent without  benumbing  our  sensibility,  must  be  still 
further  limited  by  our  depravity. 

If  men  were  perfect  in  point  of  moral  condition, 
the  preceding  causes  of  obscurity  would  still  act. 
But  men  are  not  morally  perfect;  they  are  very 
far  from  it ;  their  moral  natures  are  universally  and 
wretchedly  broken  down  and  corrupted.  And  this 
fact  cannot  do  otherwise  than  heavily  becloud  the 
Supreme  Being.  Who  expects  a  sick  body  to  do 


DEPRAVITY.  133 

bodily  work  as  well  as  a  sound  one  can  do  ?  Who 
expects  a  muddy  pool  to  reflect  the  sky  as  well  as 
the  fountain  of  Helicon  ?  Who  expects  the  astron- 
omer gazing  at  a  heavenly  body  through  a  cracked 
and  unhomogeneous  lens  to  see  it  as  well  as  through 
a  Clarke  or  a  Frauenhofer?  It  is  not  possible. 
Nor  is  it  possible  for  a  sick,  turbid,  broken  soul 
to  give  as  clear  and  just  views  of  God  as  would 
be  natural  to  an  unfallen  being.  Sinners  can 
see  trees  as  well  as  if  they  were  no  sinners : 
doubtless  can  see  outward  prodigies  expressing  God 
just  as  well  as  they  could  with  perfectly  pure 
hearts.  But  as  to  seeing  God  in  these  things  — 
this  is  quite  another  matter;  and  it  is  just  here 
where  sin  acts  as  an  obstruction.  Sin  is  naturally 
averse  to  and  afraid  of  a  perfect  Deity,  naturally 
unwilling  to  recognize  Him,  naturally  glad  to  find 
pretexts  against  the  validity  of  any  evidence  of 
Himself  which  He  may  furnish.  It  is  disposed  to 
shut  the  eye  and  ear  on  such  evidences,  to  look  for 
them  anywhere  but  in  the  right  place,  to  see  what 
it  must  see  with  the  dead  eyes  of  statues  or  with 
the  dwarfing  eyes  of  insects.  In  the  presence  of 
such  a  disposition  no  Theistic  illustration,  nor  argu- 
ment, nor  even  ocular  demonstration,  can  pass  for 
what  it  is  worth.  In  the  presence  of  the  higher 
degrees  of  such  a  disposition  the  brightest  Divine 
credential  —  though  its  name  be  Alcyone,  central 
sun  of  the  whole  system  of  evidence  —  must  be  sad- 
ly blurred,  and  may  be  totally  suppressed ;  indeed, 


134  FIFTH  LECTURE. 

is  not  unlikely  to  be  totally  suppressed.  Why,  the 
man  has  only  to  say,  "  Beelzebub,"  "  magic,"  "  op- 
tical illusion,"  to  set  aside  any  miracle  !  Why,  the 
man  has  only  to  say,  "  Nature,"  "  law,"  "  develop- 
ment," "  endless  series,"  "spontaneous  generation" 
—  such  high-sounding  words,  liberally  and  discreetly 
used,  are  enough  to  explain  away  from  such  a  man 
the  finest  natural  proof  of  God  that  could  possibly 
amaze  a  philosopher.  Who  needs  be  told  it  —  while 
it  is  notorious  that  men  can  doubt  anything  they 
choose,  and  on  occasion  can  persuade  themselves 
that  fields  and  floods,  hills  and  heavens,  are  nothing 
but  fictions  of  the  brain !  Yes,  there  must  always 
be  more  or  less  haze  between  the  sun  and  a  marsh. 
If  the  marsh  is  sulphurous  and  hot,  the  haze  will 
be  a  cloud  through  which  shall  not  struggle  the 
faintest  outline  of  an  orb,  or  even  of  a  halo. 

But  this  is,  possibly  and  not  improbably,  but  one 
fold  of  the  veil  which  sin  hangs  between  us  and 
God.  Were  God  from  a  certain  point  to  increase 
the  general  evidence  of  Himself,  He  would  be  sure 
to  increase  the  responsibility  of  every  human  being. 
But  He  would  not  be  sure  to  increase  the  aggre- 
gate faith  and  virtue  of  the  world.  Indeed,  would 
He  not  be  sure  to  do  the  contrary  ?  In  some  cases 
a  change  for  the  better  would  be  produced :  as  cer- 
tainly in  many  other  instances  the  change  would 
be  for  the  worse.  The  increased  light  would  be 
resisted  —  sometimes  by  unbelief  and  sometimes  by 
believing  unrighteousness  —  and  consequently  more 


DEPRAVITY.  .    135 

guilt  incurred  and  more  damage  sustained  than 
under  the  old  state  of  things.  That  there  would 
be  many  on  whom  this  sad  effect  would  display 
itself,  no  one  familiar  with  life  will  doubt :  that  the 
number  of  such  persons  would  not  be  so  great  as 
to  outweigh  with  their  disasters  all  the  good  done, 
who  has  a  right  to  affirm  ?  Just  bethink  your- 
selves what  multitudes  daily  manage  to  resist  any 
amount  of  evidence  when  their  inclinations,  preju- 
dices, habits,  are  against  it !  Just  bethink  your- 
selves what  multitudes  fail  to  walk  by  the  evidence 
they  accept ;  though  accepted  as  proving  at  least 
the  possible  truth  of  so  heavily  sanctioned  a  system 
as  the  Christian  religion  I  Beyond  a  certain  point 
in  the  accumulation  of  evidence  for  a  God,  the 
damaged  multitude  would  surely  become  a  damaged 
majority.  For,  after  a  certain  stage  of  revelation 
has  been  reached,  it  is  no  longer  want  op  evidence 
that  prevents  faith,  or  want  of  motive  that  prevents 
virtue ;  it  is  disinclination  and  frowardness  of  heart. 
Increasing  the  amount  of  proof  does  not  touch  the 
seat  of  the  trouble.  Double  the  proof,  treble  it  — 
it  makes  no  difference ;  the  men  are  unbelievers 
still.  With  the  mind  made  up,  it  is  just  as  easy  to 
shut  the  eyes  on  a  mountain  as  on  a  mote ;  just  as 
easy  to  turn  back  on  the  north  when  it  is  flaming 
with  ruined  rainbows  as  when  bare  of  a  single  ray. 
So  there  must  be  a  point  in  the  accumulation  of 
evidence  for  a  God,  when,  while  increasing  as  fast 
as  ever  the  responsibility  of  a  wicked  world,  it 


136    '  FIFTH  LECTURE. 

ceases  to  increase  its  faith  and  virtue.  Here  a  per- 
fect God  must  break  off  His  proofs.  Sin  has  added 
another  fold  to  its  veil. 

But  is  there  not  yet  another  fold  from  this  source  ? 
The  necessity  of  not  doing  more  harm  than  good 
would  limit  the  revelation  to  sinners :  would  not 
the  necessity  of  doing  them  as  much  good  as  possible 
limit  it  still  further  ?  It  was  once  said  of  a  certain 
text-book  in  science  that  it  was  too  simple  and  ex- 
planatory for  the  use  of  students  in  a  college  ;  it  did 
not  tax  and  discipline  their  minds  sufficiently.  No 
one  would  have  denied  that  the  book  was  a  good  one  ; 
that  a  very  valuable  culture  was  derived  from  the 
study  of  it ;  that  its  advantages  greatly  outweighed 
its  disadvantages.  But  these  facts  did  not  establish 
the  propriety  of  holding  the  algebra  to  its  place  in 
the  college.  The  question  to  be  answered  was, 
not  whether  the  treatise  was  on  the  whole  useful, 
but  whether  it  was  as  useful  as  some  other  would 
be  that  should  throw  the  students  more  on  their 
own  resources.  And  this  question  was  answered 
in  the  negative.  It  was  decided  that  a  less  explan- 
atory book  would  serve  the  purpose  of  mental  edu- 
cation better.  So  Stanley  was  substituted  for  Day, 
as  perhaps  Day  had  been  substituted  for  Euler. 
Now,  is  any  one  competent  to  say  that  God  has  not 
seen  reason  to  make  a  similar  decision  in  regard  to 
what  is  the  best  mode  of  teaching  men  theology, 
the  science  of  God  ?  As  a  good  Being,  His  object 
in  revealing  Himself  to  the  world  would  not  be 


DEPRAVITY.  137 

merely  a  good  moral  discipline  and  culture,  but  the 
best  possible.  And  it  is  conceivable  that  even  as 
the  obscurer  manifestation  of  algebra  may  do  the 
most  for  the  crude  and  wayward  intellect,  so  the 
obscurer  manifestation  of  God  may  do  the  most  for 
the  crude  and  wayward  heart.  May  it  not  be  a 
noble  discipline  of  character  to  inquire  after  God 
humbly,  patiently,  fervently,  in  the  face  of  some 
difficulties  ?  May  it  not  be  a  noble  discipline  to 
practice  carefulness,  love  of  truth,  fairness  of  mind, 
prayer  for  Divine  guidance,  as  a  requisite  to  suc- 
cess ?  And  when  success  comes  in  this  travailing 
way,  would  not  it  and  its  results  be  all  the  more 
highly  prized  for  the  pains  taken  ?  These  are  sug- 
gestive queries.  And  they  make  it  unsafe  for  any 
one  to  declare  it  improbable  that  the  veil  which  sin 
hangs  between  us  and  God  is  not  thick  with  the 
necessity  of  securing  the  best  as  well  as  a  good 
moral  training  for  a  depraved  world. 

So  add  a  threefold  veil  of  sin  to  those  four  veils 
which,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  must  interpose 
obscurity  between  us  and  God.  He  neither  wants 
to  turn  the  world  into  an  Olympus,  nor  into  a  Ne- 
cropolis, nor  into  a  Bedlam,  nor  into  a  Boeotia,  nor 
into  a  Stonehenge,  nor  into  a  Pandemonium.  An 
unstinted  revelation  of  God  —  the  man  who  asks  it 
knows  not  what  he  asks !  Does  he  want  the  crea- 
ture to  take  on  the  full  stature  of  the  Creator? 
Does  he  want  such  an  exhibition  as,  with  its  ter- 
rible sheen  and  trumpet,  shall  blast  his  life  away  ? 


138  FIFTH  LECTURE. 

Does  he  want  Reason  to  start  headlong  from  her 
throne,  and  maunder  out  of  the  dust?  Does  he 
want  the  faculty  of  astonishment  calloused  by  daily 
violence  into  an  Ironsides  which  no  marvel,  though 
catapult-hurled,  can  impress  ?  Does  lie  want  men 
made  with  stocks  and  stones  for  souls,  instead  of 
free  moral  natures ;  or  that  God  should  content 
Himself  with  something  less  than  the  good,  or  even 
the  best,  in  His  method  of  dealing  with  sinners? 
If  not,  he  must  be  content  to  have  the  world  look 
toward  God  with  at  least  five  veils  dimming  His 
majesty  and  existence. 

At  least  this  number  of  veils  may  or  must  de- 
pend between  a  God  and  this  sinful  world.  And 
now  the  question  is,  whether  they  will  account  for 
as  much  obscurity  on  the  Divine  existence  and 
majesty  as  an  objector  may  properly  assume  to 
exist.  How  much  obscurity  is  that  ?  How  much 
will  intelligent  theists  admit?  They  will  admit 
that  some  persons  have  no  faith  in  God  ;  that  mul- 
titudes have  far  less  faith  than  would  be  desirable ; 
that  still  greater  multitudes  have  an  idea  of  God 
that  is  troublesomely  weak,  unimpressive,  and  unin- 
fluential.  This  is  the  obscurity  we  confess  to  exist 
within  men.  As  to  the  obscurity  without  them, 
we  confess  something  and  claim  more.  We  con- 
fess, of  course,  that  the  revelation  of  God  is  not 
overwhelming  in  the  amount  and  quality  of  its 
evidence,  so  as  to  make  unbelief  and  negligence  im- 
possible to  such  beings  as  men ;  nor  do  we  know  of 


TOTAL  SCIENTIFIC  IMPORT.  '  139 

any  evidence  in  earth  or  heaven,  within  the  whole 
realm  of  even  ocular  and  mathematical  demonstra- 
tion, that  does  possess  such  a  character.  We  con- 
fess that  the  evidence  is  not  such  as  to  totally 
exempt  men  from  care  and  pains  in  order  to  receive 
and  retain  its  full  force  ;  and  we  have  yet  to  learn 
that  it  would  be  desirable  to  have  it  so.  Thus  far 
we  confess.  On  the  other  hand  we  claim,  and  hold 
ourselves  ready  to  prove,  that  the  existence  and 
majesty  of  God  are  supported  by  evidence  that  is 
decisive  ;  evidence  that  is  sufficient ;  evidence  that  is 
very  great ;  evidence  that  is  greater  by  far  than 
upholds  any  other  moral  thing;  evidence  fully  as 
great  as  men  seem  disposed  to  improve ;  evidence 
great  enough  to  secure,  in  every  age,  almost  uni- 
versal faith  in  at  least  one  Worshipful  Intelligence 
indefinitely  superior  to  man  in  wisdom  and  power, 
and  quite  universal  conviction  of  the  \  ossibility  of 
such  a  Being  (which,  so  far  as  the  practical  guid- 
ance of  life  is  concerned,  is  almost  as  exacting  a 
principle  as  faith  itself)  ;  indeed,  evidence  great 
enough  to  give  moral  certainty  and  a  renovated 
character  to  every  person  from  sunrising  to  sunris- 
ing  who  will  use  it  faithfully.  We  claim,  and  hold 
ourselves  ready  to  prove,  that  Nature  and  the  Su- 
pernatural have  not  spared  themselves ;  that  they 
are  generous  witnesses  for  God ;  that  they  vie  with 
each  other  in  the  richness  of  their  testimony ;  that 
God  has  a  shrine  in  every  history,  a  temple  in  every 
science,  a  stoled  priest  with  his  Novuin  Organon 


140  FIFTH  LECTURE. 

in  every  bosom ;  that  the  wide  campus  of  matter 
swept  by  microscope  and  telescope  as  far  as  yonder 
picket  nebula  is  everywhere  covered  with  hiero- 
glyphics of  Him  which  no  Champollion  is  needed 
to  decipher,  everywhere  hung  with  His  cartouches 
and  coats  of  arms  which  no  college  of  heralds  is 
needed  to  explain,  everywhere  tracked  with  His 
giant  foot-prints  vastly  more  scientifically  intelligible 
than  any  of  these  fossil  scriptures  of  the  Connect- 
icut which  so  nobly  enrich  your  museum  —  further 
and  chiefly,  that  the  supernatural  evidence  carries 
itself  still  more  regally  in  a  God  who  has  often 
spoken  audibly  with  men ;  has  often  stood  among 
them  in  visible  personal  forms  ;  has  dwelt  for  thirty- 
three  years  on  the  amazed  and  panting  planet  in  a 
human  body ;  has  maintained  for  ages  an  oracle 
whose  Delphos  and  Dodona  shone  with  miraculous 
Sheldnahs  and  infallible  Urim  and  Thummim ;  has 
made  the  future  visible,  the  dead  to  live,  the  earth 
to  tremble,  the  heavens  to  blaze,  the  angels  to  fly 
singly  or  in  armies  along  the  sky  in  attestation  of 
Himself;  indeed,  has  even  personally  come  down 
in  presence  of  forewarned  and  expecting  hosts,  em- 
bosomed in  a  storm  of  miracles  and  with  ineffable 
pomp,  as  if  to  silence,  once  for  all,  the  clamors  of 
such  men  as  say,  "  Nay,  father  Abraham,  but  if  one 
went  to  them  from  the  dead,  they  would  repent;" 
and,  finally,  has  scattered  these  direct  manifesta- 
tions and  these  attesting  miracles,  writh  their  diac- 
onate  of  special  providences,  through  the  ages  as 


TOTAL  SCIENTIFIC  IMPORT.  141 

liberally  as  can  be  shown  consistent  with  their  best 
effect,  bridging  the  intervals  between  them  with 
well-accredited  and  well-believed  traditions  from 
amid  whose  mighty  arches  and  colonnades  and  pic- 
turing perspectives  they  can,  not  improbably,  be 
seen  to  better  advantage  by  the  majority  of  man- 
kind than  from  the  portico  itself. 

Lo  a  Man  of  whom  I  have  great  things  to  say  ! 
He  had  profound  faith  in  God.  He  not  only  be- 
lieved in  the  Divine  existence  and  perfection  and 
government ;  but  that  glorious  idea  seemed  to  him 
very  much  as  did  the  ground  which  sustained  him, 
the  air  which  he  breathed,  and  the  heaven  which 
rained  on  him  from  its  azure  cope  the  glory  of  sun 
and  stars.  —  Is  God  all  about  me?  Does  He  look 
and  work  on  my  right  hand  and  on  my  left,  upon  me 
and  within  me  ?  Do  I  never  go  abroad  but  that  His 
providence  paces  along;  never  rest  at  home  but 
that  His  sleepless  sovereignty  watches  at  my  bed- 
side ?  While  I  am  thinking,  is  He  busy  among  the 
thickly  coming  fancies  and  arguments ;  prompting, 
repressing,  proportioning  with  a  tireless  hand? 
While  I  am  speaking,  is  there  no  slightest  tone  that 
does  not  reach  His  quick  ear ;  and  no  hearer's 
heart  into  which  He  is  not  looking,  and  where  He 
is  not  working  in  behalf  of  the  truth  ?  The  wind 
that  sighs  under  these  eaves  —  is  it  true  that  the 
pulse  of  almighty  power  is  in  it  ?  The  cloud  that 
sails  yonder  —  is  it  so  that  an  omniscient  thought 
is  riding  on  it,  hither  and  thither,  for  its  secret  mis- 


142  FIFTH  LECTURE. 

sion  ?  Each  ray  of  light  that  makes  its  way  through 
these  windows  —  is  it  feathered  with  a  Divine  pur- 
pose, and  is  every  minute  reflection  from  wall  and 
seat  and  dust-particle  presided  over  and  governed 
by  a  single  personal  agency  as  real  as  that  which 
turns  over  the  leaves  of  this  manuscript  ?  —  So 
thought  that  man  of  faith.  So  was  he  convinced. 
So,  indeed,  he  almost  seemed  to  see.  Other  eyes 
than  those  ot  his  body  seemed  to  dwell  behind  and 
look  through  those  grosser  orbs,  and  to  see  things 
too  subtle  and  essential  for  them.  The  common 
world  lay  insphered  in  a  supernatural.  All  things 
were  "  living  and  moving  and  having  their  being  in 
God"  —  as  says  Euripides,  O  yr}s  o^/xa,  KO.TTL  y?}s 
tX<*>v  eSpav —  Chariot  of  the  world  and  having 
His  throne  above  it.  In  the  greatest  national  af- 
fairs, and  in  the  obscurest  domestic  history  as  well, 
played  a  Divine  hand.  Whatever  befell,  whether 
sad  or  glad,  was  the  providence  of  God.  The 
fields  of  earth  and  air  and  sea,  instead  of  appearing 
as  so  many  platforms  on  which  the  machinery  of 
natural  causes  was  milling  out  science  and  inevitable 
results,  seemed  so  many  Fields  of  the  Cloth  of 
Gold  on  which  the  Great  Supernatural  was  accom- 
plishing in  his  own  proper  person  the  grand  part  of 
King  of  Nature.  As  to  him  of  Patmos,  a  shining 
Infinite  Presence  seemed  moving  about  among  all 
those  ages  and  empires  and  ecclesiasticisms  and 
homes  and  individual  joys,  sorrows,  virtues,  sins  — 
above  all,  mingling  freely  with  all  his  own  affairs, 


TOTAL  SCIENTIFIC  IMPORT.  143 

and  pacing  with  unwearied  step  throughout  body 
and  soul  and  all  personal  mysteries.  Not  more  real 
was  yon  mountain  that  half  shuts  out  the  day.  Not 
more  real  was  yon  ocean  that  awes  so  many  lands 
with  its  lordly  voice.  So  temptations  were  cobwebs 
to  him.  So  dangers  were  no  dangers.  So  trials 
were  a  heavenly  discipline.  So  life  and  death  were 
only  different  ways  of  spelling  the  same  word.  Re- 
proaches, ill-fame,  martyrdoms  —  what  recked  he 
even  for  these  ?  He  endured  as  seeing  Him  who  is 
invisible.  And  all  skepticisms,  and  philosophies 
falsely  so  called,  though  pretentious  and  crested  as 
ever  were  ocean  waves,  broke  harmlessly  upon  him. 
If  at  some  point  that  rooted  continent  occasionally 
seemed  to  lose  a  few  grains  of  its  rocky  substance, 
it  was  only  to  more  than  add  them  to  some  other 
part  of  its  great  coast.  So  all  the  while  the  Terra 
Firma  rose  and  grew  and  peopled  itself —  as  Amer- 
ica is  now  doing  amid  the  buffets  of  two  oceans. 
It  was  a  grand  sight  to  see  —  that  great,  immov- 
able, progressive  faith ;  and  the  profuse  billows  of 
French  unbelief  breaking  into  smoke  or  ever  they 
touched  its  mighty  sides  ! 

How  came  this  ?  Was  the  man  intelligent  ?  He 
was  a  philosopher  by  nature  and  training,  and  such 
an  effulgent  thinker  had  not  been  seen  for  many 
a  day.  Was  he  practical  ?  No  man  managed  his 
common  affairs  with  more  sobriety  and  discretion. 
Was  he  a  victim  of  the  unaccountable  phantasms 
of  youth  or  of  age  ?  He  was  at  the  noon  of  his 


144  FIFTH  LECTURE. 

great  and  well-balanced  faculties.  And  yet  what 
a  triumphant  believer  !  How  shall  we  account 
for  him  ?  I  will  tell  you.  Years  ago  that  man  was 
wholly  without  faith.  Somehow  his  skeptical  read- 
ing and  his  puzzling  speculation  had  by  degrees 
taken  away  the  God  of  his  fathers.  Look  where 
he  might,  there  were  no  satisfactory  signs  of  the 
supernatural.  He  could  see  nothing  but  great 
Nature.  And  from  out  his  logical  fogs  he  looked 
with  mingled  pity  and  contempt  on  men  simple 
enough  to  believe.  But,  as  said  Plato,  without 
a  God  no  man  is  at  rest.  So  one  day  he  caught 
the  light  from  a  new  angle.  He  was  startled. 
An  immense  Perhaps  stared  him  in  the  face.  He 
became  at  once  an  earnest  inquirer.  He  set  him- 
self to  examine  the  fundamental  religious  question 
with  as  much  pains  as  reasonable  men  use  in  their 
very  important  secular  concerns.  He  thought  that 
much  was  plainly  reasonable.  He  also  thought  it 
reasonable  to  invoke  the  God  who  might  be,  and 
who,  if  real,  could  easily  and  abundantly  help.  So 
he  called  freely  on  the  possible  Divinity — as  a 
man  lost  in  the  forest  will  sometimes  lift  up  his 
voice  in  loud  calls  for  helpers  whom  he  can  neither 
see  nor  hear,  but  who,  for  all  that,  may  be  near 
at  hand.  —  Another  thing  he  did  meanwhile.  He 
freely  consulted  that  Book  which  above  all  others 
credibly  purported  to  be  a  Divine  message.  He 
found  its  aroma  very  peculiar.  It  was  not  that  of 
materialism.  He  found  its  ways  not  like  those  of 


TOTAL  SCIENTIFIC  IMPORT.  145 

man.  Nothing  like  them  in  science  or  history  or 
business.  Every  verse  had  its  face  turned  God- 
ward.  Every  chapter  stood  gazing  upward,  like 
the  Christian  apostles  on  Olivet.  Every  section 
cried  God — "Him  first,  Him  last,  Him  middle, 
Him  without  end."  The  whole  credible  message 
gravitated,  pointed,  and  prayed  toward  this  great 
Center.  Gradually  the  habit  of  the  Book  became 
the  habit  of  the  man.  Gradually,  as  he  read,  he 
felt  himself  lifted  into  purer  airs  and  clearer  pros- 
pects. Gradually,  as  he  read,  he  felt  a  new  sight 
quickening  and  reaching  forth  from  the  depths  of 
the  old  —  especially  as  he  went  on  to  test  the  mes- 
sage, according  to  its  own  invitation,  by  a  personal 
experiment  on  its  adaptations  to  human  wants  and 
the  faithfulness  of  its  promises.  —  And  so  he  began 
to  live  in  such  a  way  as  made  the  thought  of  a  right- 
eous God  full  pleasant.  Then  his  faith  ripened  fast. 
The  vintage  grew  heavy  and  purple  every  day  be- 
neath beams  so  bright  and  genial.  And  at  last 
the  man  came  to  have,  if  not  a  Divinity,  at  least 
a  Divine  work  going  forward  bravely  within  him. 
Great  reforms  took  place.  Great  reconstructions  of 
character  occurred.  A  structure  far  nobler  than 
the  proud  baronial  halls  in  which  he  dwelt,  arose 
within  him.  And,  withal,  his  soul  with  its  real 
though  spiritual  ear  caught  the  sound  of  great  spirit- 
ual processes  of  rectification  and  repair  and  cleans- 
ing and  enlargement  going  on  within  its  chambers, 
and  became  conscious  of  being  touched  and  lifted 

10 


146  FIFTH  LECTURE. 

and  wrought  by  a  wondrous  agency  Hot  of  this 
world.  —  When  the  builder  is  doing  little  or  no 
work  in  my  house,  I  may  sit  quietly,  and  quietly 
look  out  of  the  window,  and  scarcely  ever  think  of 
there  being  such  a  person,  though  he  is  busy 
through  the  village  from  morning  to  night.  But 
let  him  come  into  my  own  dwelling,  and  begin  ex- 
tensive repairs  —  let  him  drive  the  axe  and  the 
plane  and  the  hammer  with  the  energy  of  a  strong 
man  in  the  very  room  I  occupy  —  let  him  lever 
and  screw  up  the  whole  building  to  rest  on  a 
new  and  higher  foundation  —  let  him  take  out  old 
and  decayed  timbers  and  replace  them  by  new 
ones,  dig  down  my  walls  of  plaster  and  panel 
others  for  me  in  immortal  oak,  put  up  addition 
after  addition,  and  so  go  on  with  infinite  hewing 
and  carving  and  beating  to  transform  my  hut 
into  a  palace  —  can  I  help  realizing  that  builder 
then  !  He  will  scarcely  ever  be  out  of  my  thoughts. 
When  my  eye  does  not  actually  rest  upon  him, 
there  will  still  be  in  my  mind  a  vivid  picture  of 
his  doings,  as  matters  very  real  and  very  near  — 
especially  if  they  are  never  carried  on  independ- 
ently of  me,  but  with  hourly  reference  to  my 
judgment  and  assent.  —  So  it  was  with  that  great 
believer.  As  soon  as  a  thorough  moral  transfor- 
mation came  to  be  fully  in  process  within  him,  he 
became  aware  of  a  Divine  Builder  as  never  be- 
fore. Spiritual  senses  asserted  themselves.  There 
were  spiritual  sounds  and  motions  and  touches 


TOTAL  SCIENTIFIC  IMPORT.  147 

and  thrills  which  could  not  be  mistaken.  The 
chambers  were  perfumed  with  a  heavenly  breath. 
The  corridors  echoed  to  a  heavenly  step.  A 
heavenly  voice  sweetly  rang  through  the  vaulted 
halls.  He  felt  that  he  was  experiencing  God. 
Communion  with  God  was  established  —  lo,  it  had 
been  said,  "  We  will  come  unto  him  and  make  our 
abode  with  him."  So  while  God  was  building  up 
the  character,  He  was  just  as  fast  building  up 
the  faith,  and  fulfilling  the  promise  that  whoever 
does  His  will  shall  know  of  the  doctrine.  Thus 
it  was  the  man  became  continental  in  faith.  Thus 
did  he  reach  moral  certainty.  Thus  did  he  see 
his  cornucopia  filled  to  overflowing,  and  passed 
almost  beyond  the  power  of  understanding  how 
men  could  think  of  complaining  of  the  obscurity 
of  God.  And  thus  it  came  to  pass  that  when  he 
died,  it  was  with  a  far  more  confident  expecta- 
tion of  waking  on  God  than  he  ever  had,  when 
falling  asleep,  of  opening  his  eyes  the  next  morning 
on  his  own  ducal  domains  of  Broglie. 

Such  was  the  method  by  which  a  seeing  faith 
came  to  him.  And  it  has  come  in  the  same  way 
to  many  another.  I  take  it  on  me  to  affirm  that 
it  might  come  in  the  same  way  to  all  —  to  all 
these  men  who  are  complaining  of  the  scant  light. 
Let  them  try  this  specific.  Let  them  try  it,  if 
they  would  have  moral  certainty  on  the  most  im- 
portant of  all  questions.  They  cannot  claim  that 
the  method  is  not  reasonable,  plausible,  and  essen- 


148  FIFTH  LECTURE. 

tially  philosophic  —  if  there  is  a  God.  It  is  such 
as  a  God  would  not  be  unlikely  to  put  men  upon. 
And  it  is  fortified  by  an  experience  that  deserves 
to  be  called  scientific.  It  is  a  principle  of  science, 
carrying  with  it  the  universal  suffrage  of  modern 
scientific  practice,  that  any  objection  to  an  hypothe- 
sis is  sufficiently  met  when  a  simple,  natural,  and 
perfectly  credible  way  of  solving  it,  in  consistency 
with  that  hypothesis,  can  be  stated.  But  in  this 
case  we  have  more  than  such  a  natural  statement. 
We  have  that  supported  by  a  wide  experience  and 
induction.  Let  every  believer  in  experimental  and 
inductive  science  take  notice — until  he  also  is  able 
to  join  that  unsandaled  and  elect  company  which 
in  every  age  has  not  failed  to  look  upward  and 
around  with  awe-stricken  faces,  and  to  softly  say 
with  the  supreme  confidence  of  sight  these  purifying 
words,  "  Thou  compassest  my  path,  Thou  besettest 
me  behind  and  before.  Whither  shall  I  go  from 
Thy  Spirit!" 

Does  any  one  imagine  that  such  obscurity  on  the 
being  and  majesty  of  God  as  may  belong  to  such  a 
system  of  revelation  as  this,  is  not  sufficiently 
accounted  for  by  our  five  veils  —  one  of  them,  at 
least,  of  indefinite  thickness  ?  I  hold  that  the  situ- 
ation of  mankind  in  respect  to  Theistic  light  is  very 
like  our  situation  in  respect  to  sunlight  on  some  fair 
day  of  summer.  There  are  floods  of  rays  abroad. 
High  hill-top  and  profound  valley  shine.  But  some 
men  are  in  less  sunny  places  than  others,  some  look 


TOTAL  SCIENTIFIC  IMPORT.  149 

forth  from  northern  aspects,  some  live  in  smoky 
Birminghams,  some  are  inclosed  in  curtained  and 
shuttered  houses,  some  are  busy  in  sewers  and 
pits  and  coal-caves,  and  some  are  blind.  "  Why 
is  it  so  dark  ?  "  say  some  of  these  men.  "  What 
darkness  do  you  mean  ?  "  I  ask.  "  Do  you  mean 
the  darkness  in  your  cloistered  houses,  your  fum- 
ing furnaces,  your  subterranean  dens  ?  Why,  your 
shutters  and  smoke  and  ceiling  of  opaque  earth- 
strata  sufficiently  account  for  that.  Ascend  from 
your  pit ;  go  forth  a  few  miles  from  your  smoky 
Birmingham  ;  make  your  shutters  and  curtains  de- 
scribe a  full  semicircle  in  favor  of  the  day,  and  you 
will  find  a  wonderful  improvement  in  the  bright- 
ness and  salubrity  of  your  surroundings.  No  Les- 
lian  nor  Wollaston  gauge  will  be  needed  to  ascer- 
tain it.  But  perhaps  you  mean  a  darkness  on  the 
general  face  of  Nature  ?  If  so,  then  I  have  to  say 
that  I  have  not  discovered  any  particular  scarcity 
of  light  there  —  there  seems  to  me  enough  for  all 
practical  purposes ;  indeed,  it  seems  to  me  that 
the  amount  of  light  is  exceedingly  great.  Still  I 
am  willing  to  admit  thtvt  it  is  not  as  great  as  might 
be.  Were  the  earth  to  cease  reeking  its  vapors ; 
were  the  cloddy  fields  to  change  into  pure  and  bur- 
nished gold ;  were  each  slant  ray  to  become  a  per- 
petual perpendicular ;  especially  were  the  sun  itself 
to  draw  nigh  till  all  heliometers  are  abashed  and 
the  whole  sky  is  filled  with  its  flaming  disk,  we 
should  have  still  more  light:  the  want  of  these 


150  FIFTH  LECTURE. 

things  is  so  many  veils  before  the  majesty  of  the 
sun,  and  all  the  dimness  —  if  you  please  to  call  it 
such  —  which  you  perceive  they  will  sufficiently 
account  for.  Would  you  have  these  veils  removed  ? 
Then  prepare  to  perish  in  the  blaze ;  or  to  part 
with  senses  and  reason  in  the  appalling  effulgence  ; 
or  to  have  all  objects  reduced  to  the  same  dead 
level  of  commonness  by  the  undiscriminating  and 
perpetual  dazzle ;  or,  finally,  to  become  less  vigor- 
ous, manly,  virtuous  persons  than  you  now  are  — 
perhaps  like  yonder  enervate  and  voluptuous  trop- 
ical Asiatic,  sweltering  alike  in  his  sun  and  his  sin 
—  do  this,  or  totally  change  your  natures.  With 
such  natures  and  tendencies  as  you  have,  I  think 
that  this  bright  temperate  zone  and  this  golden  sun 
of  a  half-degree  diameter  is  the  very  best  thing  for 
you  —  wonderfully  better  than  a  sun  whose  fiery 
shield  fills  the  whole  astonished  one  hundred  and 
eighty  degrees.  Who  has  a  right  to  deny  it? 
And  pray,  who  has  a  right  to  deny  that  this  bright 
though  tempered  revelation  of  God  which  theists 
claim,  with  men  only  held  responsible  for  such 
measure  of  light  as  they  have,  is  the  very  best 
revelation  which  could  possibly  be  furnished  to 
fallen  beings ! 


VI. 

HARMONIES  WITH  NATURE. 

'Apare  cis  TOV  ovpavov  TOUS  6<£#aAyu,ovs,  KOL   ifjL/3\€\l/ar€  €is 
Tyv  yrjv 


Zeus,  TivOfJLrjv  yaoys  re  KCU  ovpavov 

Orpheus. 


VI.   HARMONIES  WITH  NATURE. 


1. 

.     161 

3- 

FINISH  OF  MINIMA     

.     166 

4- 

i- 

7- 

RELATION  TO  TIME  AND   MOTION    . 
MYSTFRV 

.     186 

TOTAT,   SCIENTIFIC   IMPORT    . 

.    106 

SIXTH    LECTUKE. 


HARMONIES. 

IN  the  last  lecture  I  mentioned  some  sources  of 
obscurity  which  must  embarrass  a  manifestation 
of  God  ;  namely,  the  narrowness  of  our  intelligence, 
the  frailty  of  our  bodies,  the  frailty  of  our  reasons, 
the  frailty  of  our  sensibility,  and  the  sinfulness  of 
our  hearts ;  and  then  endeavored  to  show  that 
these  will  easily  account  for  all  the  dimness  of 
Divine  manifestation  that  intelligent  theists  will 
admit  to  exist.  Their  admissions  will  be  scanty. 
It  seems  to  them  that  the  light  is  that  of  broad 
summer  day  —  admirably  broad  and  brilliant, 
though  capable  of  being  suppressed  to  any  extent 
by  the  personal  habits  of  mankind. 

This  concludes  what  I  have  to  say  in  answer  to 
objections  to  the  doctrine  of  a  God.  These  objec- 
tions are  few.  Atheists  are  more  accustomed  to  as- 
sail the  proof  of  the  doctrine  than  the  doctrine  itself. 

In  coming  to  the  positive  evidences  for  the 
Divine  existence,  we  are  met  by  the  fact  that 
theists  and  atheists  agree  as  to  the  advantage 
of  approaching  the  question  of  a  Divine  Being 


154  SIXTH  LECTURE. 

with  a  mind  freshly  steeped  in  the  leading  facts 
and  courses  of  nature.  The  atheist  claims  that 
nature  makes  on  minds  thoroughly  imbued  with 
her  spirit  an  impression  adverse  to  faith ;  and 
points  in  evidence  to  some  eminent  cultivators 
of  the  physical  sciences  who  have  been  as  skep- 
tical as  they  have  been  scientific.  So  he  is  in 
favor  of  the  study  of  nature.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  theist  is  in  favor  of  it  for  the  very  oppo- 
site reason.  He  denies  the  atheism  of  science. 
He  refuses  to  infer  it  from  the  unbelief  of  some 
French  and  German  philosophers  —  with  here  and 
there  a  second-rate  English  disciple  —  whose 
minds  from  childhood  have  been  poisoned  with 
the  writings  of  Yoltaire  and  his  school,  who  have 
seen  around  them  only  a  grotesquely  corrupted 
form  of  religion,  and  whose  private  lives  for  the 
most  part  were  such  as  to  make  it  greatly  for 
their  interest  to  have  no  God.  To  him  the  case 
of  such  exceptional  men  only  shows  the  exceed- 
ing force  of  native  depravity,  evil  training,  evil 
surroundings,  and  evil  habits,  at  withstanding 
the  natural  tendency  of  their  pursuits.  This 
tendency  he  regards  as  strongly  theistic.  He 
thinks  he  sees  premonitions,  prophecies,  presump- 
tions, and  even  proofs  of  Divinity  in  the  great 
universe  that  expands  around  him ;  and  believes 
that,  other  things  being  equal,  the  more  fully 
one  conies  under  the  influence  of  the  astronomy, 
the  geology,  and  the  other  branches  of  natural 


AUTHOR  OF  NATURE.  155 

science  whose  findings  have  amazed  mankind, 
the  more  easily  he  will  admit  and  the  more 
strongly  he  will  hold,  the  doctrine  of  a  Divine 
Being. 

What  all  classes  think  it  well  to  do,  let  us  at- 
tempt. We  will  attempt  to  place  our  hearts  still 
more  fully  en  rapport  with  nature.  We  will,  if 
possible,  get  them  into  yet  closer  communication 
and  sympathy  with  its  great  leading  facts  and 
courses.  These  are  chiefly  astronomical.  Yet  I 
shall  not  restrict  myself  to  astronomical  facts, 
technically  so  called,  but  shall  allow  myself  to 
gather  from  the  whole  of  that  broad  field  of 
science  of  which  astronomy  is  the  undisputed 
and  all-comprehending  Chief.  And  I  can  not  but 
think  that  the  effect  will  be  to  preclude  objec- 
tions, to  furnish  presumptions,  and  generally  to 
dispose  the  mind  to  a  mighty  faith  in  God.  I 
am  persuaded  that  any  man  who  can  be  fairly 
set  down  in  the  midst  of  nature,  and  thrown 
honestly  open  to  all  its  subtle  inductions,  mag- 
netisms, inspirations,  will  silently  drink  in  theism, 
as  a  fleece  spread  out  under  the  stars  drinks  in 
the  dew. 

Suppose  it  claimed  that  a  certain  veiled  paint- 
ing is  the  work  of  Titian.  If,  on  gradually  lifting 
the  veil,  we  find  exclusively  trait  after  trait  such 
as  might  have  been  expected  in  a  work  by  that 
great  master,  our  disposition  to  think  favorably  of 
the  claim  increases  with  every  step :  and  if,  when 


156  SIXTH  LECTURE. 

the  canvas  is  entirely  exposed,  every  leading  fea- 
ture seems  Titianic  and  the  whole  worthy  of 
such  an  author,  our  minds  are  far  advanced 
toward  faith  —  they  are  in  a  state  of  high  prep- 
aration for  any  ulterior  evidence,  and  only  com- 
paratively little  of  it  will  be  required  to  secure 
full  conviction.  And  this  is  reasonable.  Pre- 
vious to  examination,  how  could  we  be  sure  that 
there  were  not  lurking  under  that  veil  incompat- 
ibilities, or  at  least  disagreements  ?  Now  our 
uncertainty  is  removed.  We  have  found  positive 
harmonies.  The  facts  match  the  claim.  The 
picture  is  such  as  might  have  been  expected  from 
Titian  — -such  indeed  as  he  would  surely  have 
painted.  His  great  characteristics  are  strikingly 
here.  And  these  are  so  many  verisimilitudes,  so 
many  presumptions  in  favor  of  the  claim :  and,  in 
the  absence  of  all  evidence  to  the  contrary,  at 
least  authorize  the  critic  to  stand  at  the  very 
verge  of  assent,  facing  it  kindly  and  with  foot 
uplifted,  ready  to  cross  the  border  at  the  first 
competent  invitation.  Let  such  an  invitation 
come  in  the  shape  of  an  assurance  that  the  paint- 
ing is  almost  universally  accepted  as  the  work  of 
Titian,  especially  among  the  most  intelligent  and 
fair-minded  judges ;  further,  that  the  hypothesis 
which  ascribes  the  work  to  him  is,  as  compared 
with  other  hypotheses,  altogether  the  simplest, 
the  least  embarrassed,  the  most  useful,  as  well  as 
the  most  historical  —  this  would  and  should  plant 
his  feet  in  the  very  center  of  faith. 


VASTtfESS  OF  NA1VRE.  157 

Now  it  is  claimed  that  nature  is  the  work  of 
God.  Let  us,  step  by  step,  unveil  its  leading 
features  and  see  if  they  do  not  strikingly  harmo- 
nize with  the  claim :  and,  as  they  may  be  found 
to  do  so,  let  unbelief  approach  its  frontier ;  and, 
when  at  last  the  general  scheme  of  nature  appears 
characteristic  and  worthy  of  God,  let  the  traveler 
at  least  stand  on  the  last  boundary  of  his  chill 
and  somber  territory,  all  ready  to  cross  with  de- 
cisive and  ringing  step  into  a  brighter  land  at 
the  first  summons  of  the  positive  evidence. 

What  I  propose,  then,  in  the  present  lecture,  is 
to  illustrate  the  general  harmony  between  nature 
and  the  doctrine  of  a  God.  Of  course,  a  few 
specimen  illustrations  are  all  that  can  be  offered. 
One  will  do  well  to  feel  the  pulse  of  nature  still 
more  fully  in  the  works  of  Bay  and  Good  and 
Paley,  in  the  Bridgewater  Treatises,  and  in  later 
works  of  the  same  character. 

One  of  the  most  striking  features  of  what  we 
call  Nature  is  its  vastness. 

I  do  not  forget  that  I  am  speaking  to  those  who 
have  become  familiar  with  the  wonders  of  physical 
science.  But  neither  do  I  forget  that  even  the 
scholar  must  refresh  his  impressions  of  things  in 
very  much  the  same  way  with  other  men.  SoJ  ask 
you  to  think  of  plains  stretching  to  the  horizon ; 
of  mountains  piercing  the  clouds ;  of  roomy  con- 
tinents anchored  in  roomier  oceans ;  of  this  whole 
earth-sphere,  with  its  huge  baldric  of  twenty-five 


158  SIXTH  LECTURE. 

thousand  miles,  covered  with  innumerable  ve- 
getable products,  peopled  with  men  to  the  poten- 
tial figure  of  a  thousand  millions,  swarming  still 
more  potentially  with  the  lower  animals,  and  so 
flooded  with  microscopic  life  that  almost  every 
cubic  inch  of  air  and  water  and  soil  is  panting 
with  an  incalculable  population,  —  some  of  whose 
smaller  individuals  multiply  themselves  into 
one  hundred  and  seventy  billions  in  four  days  ; 
gather  their  five  hundred  millions  in  a  single 
drop  of  water  ;  and  yet  make  up,  with  the  stony 
cerements  of  the  merest  fraction  of  their  fossil 
ancestry,  whole  mountains  and  geologic  beds. 
Such  is  our  world.  Out  in  yonder  vault,  find 
that  millionfold  world  which  we  call  the  sun, 
with  its  invisible  retinue  of  a  hundred  earths  • 
out  in  yonder  vault,  when  night  falls,  find  a 
thousand  suns  similarly  attended ;  with  tube 
Galilean,  thousands  more;  with  tube  Herschel- 
ian,  millions  more ;  with  tube  Kossian,  billions 
more.  Is  this  the  end  ?  What  astronomer  for 
one  moment  imagines  that  another  enlargement 
of  the  great  speculum  at  Parsonstown  would 
show  our  vision  to  be  already  hard  up  against 
the  frontiers  of  nature  ?  Not  even  Darwin  doubts 
that  successive  improvements  in  the  space-pene- 
trating power  of  our  instruments  would  go  on 
indefinitely  opening  up  firmaments  at  every  step. 
Where  is  the  verge  of  the  universe  ?  Who  would 
undertake  the  roll-call  of  its  orbs  ?  Who  dares 


VASTNESS  OF  NATURE.  159 

to  say  that  he  could  count  through  the  grand 
total  of  its  firmaments,  even  though  he  should 
count  a  thousand  years  ?  Figures  go  but  a  small 
way  toward  expressing  the  dimensions  of  such  a 
universe  —  whether  one  considers  the  number  of 
its  worlds,  or  the  expanse  of  space  through  which 
they  are  distributed.  Our  world  spins  round  its 
ellipse,  of  well-nigh  two  hundred  million  axis, 
without  ever  having  a  neighbor  nearer  than 
thirty  millions  of  miles,  save  its  own  moon. 
The  interval  between  our  sun  and  the  nearest 
star  of  the  same  galactic  nebula  is  twelve  hun- 
dred thousand  times  this  distance.  And  then 
the  distance  from  nebula  to  nebula  —  it  is  abso- 
lutely awful.  Our  telescopes  sweep  a  sphere  of 
stars  whose  diameter  is  seven  millions  of  years,  as 
light  travels.  Calculation  covers  its  abashed  face 
with  its  great  wings  in  the  presence  of  these  over- 
whelming amplitudes.  And  such  is  nature  ! 

Certainly  such  a  universe  as  this  does  not  cry 
out  against  the  existence  of  a  God  whose  essen- 
tial attribute  is  immensity.  On  the  contrary,  it 
is  just  such  a  universe  as  one  would  have  ex- 
pected to  come  from  such  a  being.  Nay,  given  a 
Deity  who  is  practically  at  home  in  every  point 
of  space,  whose  attributes  are  laid  out  on  a  scale 
of  unbounded  vastness,  to  whom  it  is  just  as  easy 
to  make  and  govern  a  trillion  of  worlds  as  it  is  a 
grain  of  sand,  and  the  imperial  fitness  of  things 
would  demand  that  1  e  people  vacancy  with  very 


160  SIXTH  LECTURE. 

much  that  profusion  and  breadth  ,if  being  that 
we  actually  see.  The  work  ought  to  express  and 
honor  the  workman.  And  when  I  am  told  of  an 
author  of  nature  who  is  immense  with  a  three- 
fold boundlessness  of  intelligence,  might,  and 
years ;  so  that  to  him  our  great  and  small,  our 
far  and  near,  our  center  and  circumference  — 
though  that  circumference  sweep  around  all  the 
expanses  of  modern  astronomy  —  are  practically 
the  same  ;  so  that  he  can  properly  challenge,  "Do 
not  I  fill  heaven  and  earth  ?  "  — when  I  am  told 
of  this,  and  I  then  place  myself  out  under  the 
open  dome  of  nature,  amid  its  exuberant  objects 
and  marvelous  stretches,  I  feel  myself  silently 
drinking  in  predispositions  to  faith  as  the  fleece 
spread  out  under  the  open  heaven  drinks  in  the 
dew.  I  feel  that  the  doctrine  matehes  facts  ;  that 
the  theory  has  in  its  favor  a  comprehensive  veri- 
similitude and  presumption ;  that  Nature,  instead 
of  saying,  "  There  is  no  immense  God,"  signifi- 
cantly asks,  in  a  tone  of  encouragement  and  with 
a  look  of  incipient  expectation,  "Is  there  not  such 
a  Being  ?  "  In  fine,  I  feel  that  our  slight  lifting 
of  the  veil  from  the  painting  has  disclosed  a  fea- 
ture strikingly  characteristic  of  the  great  master 
to  whom  the  work  is  attributed — a  feature  which, 
in  the  absence  of  all  counter-evidence,  naturally 
sets  our  faces  faith  ward  —  one,  of  several  har- 
monies which,  as  successively  presented,  will  war- 
rant us  in  looking  faithward  with  evergrowing 
kindliness  of  aspect. 


VARIETY  IN  UNITY.  161 

Notice  with  me  the  variety  in  unitj  that  char- 
acterizes Nature. 

Some  hundreds  of  millions  of  creatures  on  our 
earth  are  so  much  alike  that  we  put  them  into  a 
class  by  themselves  and  call  them  men.  They  are 
all  alike  in  certain  fundamental  features ;  and  yet 
each  man  differs  materially,  both  in  body  and  soul, 
from  every  other  man.  So  of  every  other  class 
of  things  —  animal,  vegetable,  inorganic  ;  while 
there  is  a  sub-stratum  of  unity  among  the  mem- 
bers of  each,  on  account  of  which  they  are 
classed  together,  there  is  not  one  which  is  not 
very  unlike,  in  many  respects,  all  its  fellows.  All 
animals  have  great  points  in  common  :  but  how 
many,  many  sorts  of  animals  ;  and  how  great  the 
difference  between  the  eagle  and  the  microscopic 
mote,  between  the  cetus  and  the  polyp,  between 
the  most  perfect  man  (body  and  soul)  and  the 
rudest  of  the  polypi !  All  vegetables  are  similar- 
ly constituted  :  but  whose  memory  can  master  all 
the  distinct  kinds  of  vegetables  in  the  wide  inter- 
val between  the  spire  of  grass  and  the  huge  tree 
that  wrestles  victoriously  with  stormy  centuries  ; 
and  reckon  up  the  great  differences  that  exist,  as 
to  shape  and  size  and  color  and  flavor  and  odor, 
among  fruits  and  flowers  and  leaves  and  grasses 
and  shrubs  and  trees.  Great  threads  of  unity 
obviously  connect  all  the  forms  of  terrestrial 
being,  organic  and  inorganic ;  but  this  we  know, 
that,  if  only  single  specimens  of  all  the  plainly 


162  SIXTH  LECTURE. 

separated  species  were  attempted  to  be  brought 
together  into  one  Crystal  Palace  of  a  museum,  we 
should  have  to  roof  in  empires,  instead  of  acres, 
in  order  to  accommodate  their  mighty  array:  and  as 
our  eye  would  run  over  the  whole  superb  collec- 
tion, and  at  last  bring  together  the  two  termini  — 
viz.,  the  material  man  and  the  material  stone 
just  crumbling  into  dust — our  sense  would  be 
that  of  a  miraculous  diversity  efflorescing  out  of 
the  unity  of  our  world.  So  with  those  other 
worlds  that  shine  or  hide  in  the  vault  above. 
They  are  all  spheres,  all  have  orbitual  and  prob- 
ably axial  motions,  all  are  governed  by  the  same 
principle  and  law  of  gravitation,  all  are  lighted 
and  colored  and  warmed  by  the  same  mysterious 
element  or  impulse  ;  but  on  such  basal  unity  is 
superimposed  an  almost  infinite  variety.  Observe 
our  solar  system.  One  member  of  it  is  self-lu- 
minous, and,  relatively  to  the  other  members,  a 
nearly  stationary  body  ;  the  others  are  dark,  and 
far-wandering  planets.  One  is  one  hundred  miles 
in  diameter,  another  nearly  one  hundred  thou- 
sand, while  still  another  contains  more  than 
eight  hundred  times  as  much  matter  as  all  the 
remainder  of  the  system  can  boast.  Some  have 
atmospheres  and  seas,  others  have  neither.  Some 
have  moons,  others  have  none.  Saturn  rides 
forth  in  the  poop  of  three  great  equatorial  rings, 
as  well  as  of  eight  moons  ;  no  other  planet  is  simi- 
larly furnished,  These  orbs  of  our  system  differ 


VARIETY  IN   UNITY.  163 

greatly  in  density  —  one  is  as  lead,  another  as 
cork,  another  still  is  mere  vapor.  One  receives 
seven  times  as  much  light  from  the  sun  as 
we,  another  only  a  three  hundred  and  sixtieth 
part  of  as  much.  Neptune's  year  is  equal  to 
one  hundred  and  sixty-five  of  our  years.  Saturn's 
day  is  only  one-half  of  our  day.  Of  course 
the  products  and  scenery  of  these  worlds,  as 
well  as  the  constitution  of  their  inhabitants, 
must  differ  exceedingly.  But  pass  we  on  to 
the  region  of  the  fixed  stars.  Have  we  es- 
caped into  immeasurable  uniformity  out  of  im- 
measurable variety  ?  Lo !  we  skirt  systems,  clus- 
ters, firmaments,  and  never  two  alike,  while  some 
stand  apart  by  whole  universes  of  difference ! 
Lo,  systems  with  several  suns  each,  from  one  to  a 
hundred!  Lo,  systems  lighted,  some  with  white 
suns,  some  with  ruby,  some  with  emerald,  and 
some  with  suns  of  many  different  colors !  Lo, 
suns  differing  exceedingly  in  size  and  amount  of 
light  they  shed :  for  the  great  Sirius  that  flashes 
first  magnitudes  on  all  our  charts  as  well  as  on 
the  dazzled  retina  of  the  savage,  is  not  as  near 
to  us  as  the  little  61  Cygni,  and  its  light  must 
be  equal  to  that  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  suns 
like  our  own !  Alcyone  shines  with  a  force 
of  twelve  thousand  suns.  And  then  ~y&  have 
suns  themselves  combined  into  systems  of  all 
sizes  and  shapes  —  systems  of  two,  of  three, 
of  many,  of  millions,  —  firmaments  which,  un- 


164  SIXTH  LECTURE. 

der  the  name  of  nebulae,  are  Jie  last  gen- 
eralization and  most  stupendous  variety  of  mod- 
ern discovery :  sometimes  rolled  up  into  spheres  : 
sometimes  gathered  into  circular  or  elliptic  rings ; 
now  fan-shaped  ;  now  like  an  hour-glass  ;  now 
broad  wheels  of  compacted  suns,  large,  glitter- 
ing, and  sublime  enough  to  under-roll  the  chariot 
of  immeasurable  God.  There  are  not  two  leaves 
or  grass-blades  perfectly  alike  in  all  this  verdant 
world  ;  not  two  worlds,  nor  systems  of  worlds, 
accurately  alike  in  all  the  prodigious  realms  of 
astronomy. 

Now  no  one,  to  say  the  least,  can  claim  that  this 
vast  variety  imbosomed  in  unity  makes  positively 
against  the  idea  of  one  Creator  of  boundless  in- 
vention and  executive  faculty.  On  the  contrary, 
it  is  just  what  we  should  have  expected  from  such 
a  being.  Given  just  such  a  many-sided,  versatile, 
complete  Deity  as  is  affirmed  —  we  should  say 
that,  in  case  he  should  set  himself  to  produce  a 
vast  universe,  he  would  be  likely  to  produce  one 
in  which  great  outlines  of  unity  would  be  steeped 
in  immeasurable  variation  ;  one  in  which  resem- 
blance and  diversity,  both  robed  and  featured  like 
goddesses,  would  hold  each  other  by  the  hand 
and  go  treading  with  wedded  and  festival  step  up 
and  down  the  whole  quickened  area.  Nay,  this 
sort  of  universe  one  would  make  sure  of  finding ; 
would  be  greatly  disappointed  if  he  should  not 
find.  The  eternal  laws  ol  his  own  nature  would 


VARIETY  IN  UNITY.  165 

demand  it  of  the  Great  Builder.  The  invin- 
cible beauty  and  fitness  of  things  would  de- 
mand it.  Perfect  uniformity,  however  piled  up 
in  magnificent  magnitudes  —  even  a  uniformity 
only  varied  after  so  cramped  and  frugal  a  fashion 
as  would  be  perpetually  suggesting  poverty  of  re- 
sources —  would  belie  the  inexhaustible  Divinity. 
If  he  build  at  all,  he  must  not  misrepresent  and 
disparage  himself  in  his  work ;  his  fruitful  na- 
ture, teeming  with  all  imaginable  fertilities  and 
seeds,  must  surely  blossom  into  very  much  that 
marvelous  fruitfulness  of  product  and  pattern 
which  we  observe.  And  when  I  am  told  of  an 
author  of  nature  whose  being  swarms  in  resistless 
force  toward  every  point  of  the  compass,  nay  of  the 
sphere ;  who  is  both  a  unit  and  a  polygon,  facing 
every  desideratum  and  possibility  with  i  flashing 
side,  both  of  thought  and  action,  that  out-dazzles 
the  sun  —  when  I  am  told  that  such  a  being  is 
the  author  of  nature,  and  I  then  put  myself 
forth  under  the  open  dome  amid  the  glorious  di- 
versities that  root  themselves  in  the  glorious 
unity  of  nature,  and  open  myself  freely  to  all 
their  subtle  suggestions  and  magnetisms,  I  feel 
myself  drinking  in  predispositions  to  faith,  as  the 
exposed  fleece  drinks  in  the  dew.  I  feel  that 
again  the  doctrine  matches  facts,  that  again  the 
theory  has  a  comprehensive  verisimilitude  and  pre- 
sumption, that  Nature  instead  of  saying  that 
there  is  no  God  whose  unity  is  arborescent 


166  SIXTH  LECTURE. 

with  endless  varieties  of  beauty  and  power,  sig- 
nificantly asks,  "  Is  there  not  such  a  Being  ?  In 
fine,  I  feel  that  our  continued  lifting  of  the  veil 
from  the  painting  has  disclosed  a  second  trait 
strikingly  characteristic  of  the  Great  Master  to 
whom  the  work  is  attributed  ;  a  trait  which,  added 
to  the  first,  warrants  our  faith  ward  look  in  taking 
on  new  kindliness  of  aspect. 

Another  characteristic  of  nature  deserving  of 
notice  is  the  perfection  of  its  details. 

The  exquisite  finish  of  nature  in  its  minutest 
parts  is  about  as  wonderful  as  its  vastness  and  va- 
riety. Scan  that  leaf.  Examine  the  wing  of  that 
butterfly.  Let  the  tinted  and  polished  antennae 
of  that  moth  glitter  in  the  focus  of  your  instru- 
ment. Subject  to  the  skilfullest  notice  of  science 
and  art  the  smallest  veins  of  any  animal  or  vege- 
table. Push  the  analysis  just  as  far  as  possible, 
and  submit  that  last  visible  minimum  of  organi- 
zation in  the  crystalline  lens  of  the  cod,  with  its  five 
millions  of  muscles  and  sixty  thousand  millions 
of  teeth,  to  the  most  searching  criticism  of  the  su- 
perbest  microscope.  What  exquisite  details ! 
What  elaborate  refinement  of  workmanship !  It 
Is  not  as  with  some  master-piece  of  human  paint- 
ing —  the  main  points  only  cared  for,  while  all 
the  subordinate  are  too  rude  to  bear  close  inspec- 
tion. Titian  painted  this  landscape.  Well,  it  is 
worthy  of  him  —  the  general  effect  is  beautiful. 
Yet,  if  you  approach,  and  closely  examine  the  fo- 


FINISH  OF  MINIMA.  167 

liage  of  the  trees,  the  grass  with  which  the  can- 
vas is  green,  or  even  the  limbs  and  features  of 
the  animals,  they  will  be  found  very  coarsely  and 
incorrectly  executed.  The  microscope  turns  the 
most  finished  work  of  man  into  coarseness  and 
clumsiness  —  indeed,  almost  immediately  carries 
the  sight  where  traces  of  skill  have  totally  disap- 
peared. Not  so  with  the  works  of  nature.  A 
real  landscape  you  may  analyze  to  your  heart's 
content,  and  inspect  its  details  as  critically  as 
eye  armored  with  lens  can  do,  without  finding 
the  workmanship  growing  less  exquisite  the  fur- 
ther you  push  inquiry.  A  real  man  —  you  may 
descend  to  the  minutest  particulars  of  his  organi- 
zation, and  get  as  near  its  primary  elements  as 
an  Ehrenberg  with  his  superb  instruments  and 
practiced  vision  can  carry  you,  without  finding 
the  least  falling  off  from  that  delicacy  of  execu- 
tion which  appears  on  the  larger  masses  and  out- 
lines of  the  body.  So  everywhere  among  natural 
objects  —  the  great  and  the  small,  the  outlines 
and  the  minute  filling-up,  as  far  as  utmost  optical 
resources  can  carry  our  observation,  are  wrought 
with  apparently  the  same  overflowing  outlay  of 
attention  and  skill.  It  is  not  so  in  a  few  instances 
merely,  nor  in  a  thousand — it  is  so  universally. 

That  there  are  any  so  preposterous  as  to  think 
that  this  feature  of  nature  makes  positively 
against  the  idea  of  a  sparrow-watching,  hair-num- 
bering, and  thought-weighing  God  is,  of  course, 


168  SIXTH  LECTURE. 

not  to  be  imagined.  Of  course,  it  is  a  feature 
that  fully  harmonizes  with  such  an  idea.  A  na- 
ture finished  exquisitely  down  to  the  most  infinites- 
imal of  its  details  is  just  what  one  would  have 
predicted  from  a  God  of  this  description.  An- 
nounced the  fact  that  He  was  about  to  create, 
and  expectation  would  have  stood  on  tiptoe  to  look 
for  just  such  a  nature  as  we  see.  A  God  for  whose 
vision  nothing  is  too  small,  who  necessarily  gives 
as  complete  attention  to  the  affairs  of  an  atom  as 
to  those  of  an  empire,  who  can  concentrate  his 
almightiness  with  as  much  freedom  and  accuracy 
on  a  mathematical  point  as  on  a  world,  who  is 
embarrassed  no  more  by  unlimited  multiplicity 
than  by  unlimited  minuteness  of  details,  who  can 
with  equal  ease  paint  a  landscape  on  the  point  of 
a  needle  —  say,  if  you  please,  forty  thousand  of 
such  landscapes  at  once,  with  all  their  innumera- 
ble and  minima  particulars,  back  of  the  reticu- 
lated eyes  of  a  single  butterfly  —  can  with  equal 
ease  do  this,  and  roll  a  solar  system  on  its  tri- 
umphant path  about  the  Pleiades  ;  do  I  not  know 
that  a  being  with  such  a  striking  attribute  as  this 
would  surely  give  it  expression  in  his  works  ?  Do 
I  not  know  that  he  who  is  equally  at  home  in 
maxima  and  minima,  and  to  whom  beauties  and 
glories  in  the  world  of  infinitesimals  would  be  just 
as  apparent  and  practicable  as  they  are  in  the 
world  of  infinites,  would  lay  hims3lf  out  on  the 
one  very  much  as  on  the  other  —  would  effulge 


WISDOM  OF  NATURE.  169 

himself  into  the  microcosmos  very  much  as  into 
the  cosmos  ?  When,  then,  I  am  told  that  such  a 
being  is  the  author  of  nature,  and  I  proceed  to 
place  myself  out  under  the  open  dome  amid  the 
exquisite  elaborations  that  swarm  on  every  hand 
down  through  the  veriest  miracles  of  littleness 
and  detail,  and  to  uncover  myself  candidly  to  all 
their  subtle  whisperings  and  magnetisms,  I  feel 
myself  softly  drinking  in  predispositions  to  faith, 
as  the  exposed  fleece  drinks  in  the  dew,  I  so  feel 
the  force  of  a  doctrine  matching  facts,  and  but- 
tressing itself  again  and  again  with  comprehen- 
sive verisimilitudes  and  presumptions,  that  to 
me  nature  becomes  articulate,  and,  instead  of 
swearing  with  uplifted  hand  that  there  is  no 
wondrous  God,  significantly  points  upward,  and, 
with  bated  breath  and  expectant  look,  asks,  "  Is 
there  not  such  a  Being  ?  "  —  in  fine,  I  feel  that 
our  continued  lifting  of  the  veil  from  the  paint- 
ing has  disclosed  another  characteristic  of  the 
Great  Master  to  whom  the  work  is  attributed,  the 
third  of  those  several  harmonies  which,  as  suc- 
cessively presented,  warrant  us  in  looking  faith- 
ward  with  ever-growing  kindliness  of  aspect. 

Another  feature  of  Nature  is  what  I  shall  call 
its  wisdom. 

The  world  is  full  of  what,  if  accepted  as  the 
work  of  an  intelligent  being,  would  be  called  con- 
trivances—  adaptations  of  means  to  ends  — often 
of  the  most  complex  and  elaborate  description.  * 


170  SIXTH  LECTURE. 

For  example,  the  birds  —  how  admirably  adapted 
to  flying  ;  in  shape,  feathers,  bones,  wings  !  The 
fishes  —  how  adapted  to  swimming  and  life  in  the 
water ;  witness  their  shape,  their  smooth  and 
unctuous  scales,  their  pairs  of  fins,  their  tails  and 
gills  !  The  land-animals  —  how  adapted  to  walk- 
ing and  running  and  feeding  on  the  earth's  sur- 
face ;  to  eat  the  grass  or  catch  their  special  prey ! 
The  trees  —  how  adapted  to  stand  firmly  ;  by  their 
roots,  their  perpendicularity,  their  balanced 
branches,  their  moderate  flexibility  — how  adapt- 
ed for  shade,  for  abating  the  violence  of  winds, 
for  fuel !  Or,  if  you  will  consider  particular  or- 
gans of  the  organic  tribes,  look  at  the  bark  of 
trees  as  related  to  their  nourishment,  at  the  web- 
foot  in  its  double  relation  to  land  and  water,  at 
the  teeth  and  other  preparers  of  food  for  the 
stomach,  at  the  stomach  as  a  preparer  of  food  for 
the  blood,  at  the  lungs  as  purifiers  of  the  blood, 
at  the  heart  as  the  engine  for  forcing  the  blood  to 
all  parts  of  the  system,  at  the  hand  as  the  general 
servant  of  the  whole  body  ;  in  short,  at  almost  any 
organ  of  either  animal  or  vegetable  structures. 
The  adaptations  are  wonderful.  They  are  physi- 
cal miracles  —  the  means  are  shaped  and  applied 
to  the  ends  so  exactly,  beautifully,  triumphantly. 
For  example,  no  work  of  human  ingenuity  that 
ever  you  saw  is  equal  to  that  natural  marvel,  the 
human  eye — an  organ  having  reference  to  an 
element  quite  external  to  itself,  whose  chief  source 


WISDOM  OF  NATURE.  171 

is  millions  of  leagues  distant ;  and  also  to  millions 
of  external  objects  which  compose  our  scenery  of 
earth  and  sky  —  an  organ  placed  in  the  most  ele- 
vated part  of  the  body  so  as  to  command  the  most 
extensive  prospect ;  placed  in  the  front  so  as  most 
readily  to  preside  over  the  direction  in  which  we 
habitually  move  ;  placed  in  a  strong  bony  socket 
which  defends  it  from  the  heavier  external  in- 
juries ;  imbedded  in  a  soft  cushion,  so  that  its  del- 
icate texture  can  not  be  hurt  by  the  bony  walls 
around  it,  as  it  rests  on  them,  and  turns  swiftly 
hither  and  thither  at  the  bidding  of  the  will ; 
furnished  with  lids,  like  curtains,  to  close  over  it 
in  sleep,  to  wipe  it,  to  cut  off  the  outer  rays  of 
light  that  would  confuse  vision,  to  protect  it  by 
their  involuntary  and  instantaneous  shutting 
against  the  lighter  kincl  of  injuries  ;  furnished 
with  an  apparatus  of  muscles  by  which  it  can  be 
rapidly  turned  at  choice  in  any  direction,  so  as  to 
vary  the  field  of  vision  as  the  needs  of  life  may 
suggest ;  furnished  with  a  self-acting  system  of 
appliances  by  which  the  ball  is  kept  lubricated  for 
easy  movement;  furnished  with  a  conduit  to 
carry  off  the  superfluous  moisture ;  furnished 
with  just  that  shape,  out  of  ten  thousand  possible 
shapes,  which  mathematicians  have  demonstrated 
to  be  the  only  one  which  can  refract  all  the  rays 
of  light  to  a  single  surface,  and  thus  afford  dis- 
fcr'nct  vision,  viz.,  that  of  an  ellipsoid  of  revolu- 
tion ;  furnished  with  a  retina  or  natural  canvas 


172  SIXTH  LECTURE. 

on  which  its  pictures  of  external  objects  can  be 
formed,  of  just  the  right  size,  and  at  just  the  right 
distance  behind  the  lenses  of  the  eye ;  furnished 
with  lenses  of  different  substances  having  differ- 
ent refractive  powers,  thereby  preventing  the  light 
from  being  resolved  into  the  prismatic  colors,  arid 
thus  misrepresenting  and  uniforming  objects  ;  fur- 
nished in  front  with  a  perforated  membrane  that 
by  self-adjustment  adapts  it  to  different  degrees 
of  light,  also  with  a  system  of  pulleys  and  liga- 
ments that  at  a  moment's  warning  alter  its  con- 
vexity and  the  relative  position  of  parts  so  as 
to  adapt  it  to  objects  at  different  distances  and, 
what  is  more  wonderful  than  all,  provided  in 
some  inscrutable  manner  with  the  means  of  ex- 
pressing the  mind  itself,  so  that  one  may  look  into 
its  crystal  depths  and  see  intellectuality  and  scorn 
and  wrath  and  love,  and  almost  every  spiritual 
state  and  action.  Now,  if  this  is  not  an  amazing 
congeries  of  adaptations,  there  is  and  can  be  noth- 
ing amazing.  If  found  to  be  the  work  of  a  human 
artist,  it  would  be  called  a  perfect  marvel  of  in- 
genuity and  wisdom.  And  yet  some  insects  have 
twenty  thousand  such  eyes  combined  into  one. 
But  the  eye  is  only  one  among  an  infinity  of 
natural  contrivances.  Animate  and  inanimate 
nature  is  mountainous  and  glittering  with  them. 
Down  into  the  regions  of  the  infinitely  small, 
whither  only  the  most  searching  microscopes  car- 
ry the  sight ;  up  into  the  regions  of  the  infinitely 


WISDOM  OF  NATURE.  173 

large  and  far,  whither  only  mightiest  telescopes 
lift  our  struggling  knowledge  ;  among  the  mech- 
anisms of  the  atomic  nations  that  people  a  sin- 
gle leaf,  and  among  the  mechanisms  of  those 
swarming  celestial  empires  whose  starry  banners 
sweep  our  nightly  skies  —  it  is  everywhere  the 
same  ;  exquisite  adaptations  crowding  exquisite 
adaptations,  profound  contrivances  (so  inven- 
tors and  mechanicians  would  be  tempted  to  call 
them)  heaped  on  profound  contrivances,  in  such 
endless  amounts  and  varieties  of  wise  structure, 
as  exhausts  all  human  understanding  and  dwarfs 
into  nothingness  all  the  products  of  human  in- 
genuity. 

Does  such  a  nature  as  this  swear  against  a 
Divine  Contriver.  Does  it  protest  against  him,  or 
testify  against  him,  or  breathe  even  a  suspicion 
against  him  ?  Many  absurd  things  are  done  in  the 
world  :  but  it  will  be  hard  to  find  the  man  who  will 
care  to  deny  the  positive  and  emphatic  harmony 
between  the  doctrine  of  an  omniscient  and  omnip- 
otent God  and  a  universe  crowded  with  such 
splendors  of  natural  mechanics.  A  God  of  end- 
less invention,  and  whose  powerful  and  skilled 
hands  can  magnificently  realize  all  that  he  has 
magnificently  planned  —  we  should  expect  that 
such  a  being,  in  case  he  should  create  a  nature, 
would  set  it  all  ablaze  with  the  monuments  of 
his  supreme  intelligence  and  power  —  should  be 
disappointed  to  find  no  such  monuments,  but,  in 


174  SIXTH  LECTURE. 

their  stead,  mere  stupidity  or  tameness  of  work. 
We  should  call  the  work  unworthy  of  the  work- 
man. Nay,  we  should  hasten  to  say  to  ourselves 
that  we  must  have  mistaken  him  —  He  could 
really  be  nothing  more  than  such  a  petty  divinity 
as  the  poor  heathen  have  fabled  to  themselves. 
For  we  should  be  sure  that  one  having  unlimited 
command  of  ways  and  means,  both  as  a  knower 
and  worker,  would  display  it  in  his  works.  It 
being  just  as  easy  for  him  to  have  exquisite 
adaptations,  and  a  gloriously  endless  variety  of 
them,  as  to  have  no  adaptations  at  all  —  it  is 
plain  what  sort  of  nature  he  ought  to  make  and 
would  make.  Now  let  me  be  told  of  a  framer  of 
nature  in  whom  are  hid  all  the  treasures  of  wis- 
dom and  knowledge,  whose  light  has  in  it  no  dark- 
ness at  all,  whose  smallest  deeds  have  from  the 
hoary  everlasting  been  pavilioned  and  charioted 
toward  being  amid  the  glories  of  Almighty  Om- 
niscience ;  and  I  then  place  myself  out  under 
the  open  dome  mid  the  wilderness  of  wonderful 
constructions  and  chemistries,  and  candidly  un- 
cover myself  to  all  their  subtle  sympathies  and 
magnetisms  —  I  feel  myself,  all  silently,  drinking 
in  predispositions  to  faith,  as  the  exposed  fleece 
drinks  in  the  dew.  I  feel  that  the  God  who  is  af- 
firmed is  just  the  God  to  match  the  nature  which 
I  see  —  here  the  ball  and  there  the  socket,  here 
the  foot  Titanic  and  there  its  footprint,  here  the 
shapely  hand  and  there  its  glove,  here  the  sover- 


POWER    OF    NATURE.  175 

eign  sword  and  there  the  golden  scabbard  that  just 
fits  it  —  that  these  noble  adaptations  and  mechan- 
isms, spangling  and  blazoning  all  the  fields  of 
matter,  are  in  rejoicing  sympathy  with  the  idea 
of  a  Creator  who  is  wonderful  in  counsel  and  ex- 
cellent in  working;  that  the  alabaster-box  of 
precious  wisdom  that  has  been  emptied,  not  only 
on  the  queenly  head  and  shining  tresses  of  Na- 
ture but  on  her  very  feet,  scents  bravely  of  One 
who  is  himself  a  "  mountain  of  such  spikenard  ;" 
that,  in  fact,  the  theory  is  again  smiled  upon 
by  a  comprehensive  verisimilitude  and  presump- 
tion ;  that  Nature,  instead  of  swearing  with 
uplifted  hand  that  there  is  no  All-wise  Creator, 
with  flushed  cheek  and  upward-glancing  eye  of 
expectation,  significantly  asks,  "  Is  there  not  such 
a  Being  ?  "  In  fine,  I  feel  that  our  continued 
lifting  of  the  veil  from  the  painting  has  disclosed 
still  another  characteristic  of  the  Great  Master 
to  whom  the  work  is  attributed  ;  has  cleared  up 
another  stretch  of  that  vista  at  the  end  of  which 
is  Titian  at  his  easel  —  the  fourth  of  those  several 
harmonies,  which,  as  successively  presented,  war- 
rant us  in  looking  faithward  with  ever-growing 
kindliness  of  aspect. 

Another  striking  feature  of  Nature  is  its  power. 

No  contemptible  degree  of  force  resides  in  the 
muscles  of  some  men  —  the  Samsons  and  Milos 
of  their  time.  Huge  rocks  are  lifted,  tough  oaks 
are  riven,  great  structures  are  shaken  down  by 


176  SIXTH  LECTURE. 

their  hands.  Many  brute  animals  display  still 
greater  muscular  strength  ;  witness  the  elephant, 
and  those  gigantic  mammals  which  towered 
and  ruled  over  the  post-tertiary  savannas.  A 
combination  of  animal  forces  with  what  are  called 
the  mechanical  powers  often  generates  measures 
of  force  more  striking  still ;  and  when  men  stand 
by  such  piles  as  the  Egyptian  pyramids,  they  are 
deeply  impressed  with  the  prodigious  uplift  that 
must  have  put  those  mighty  blocks  in  their  high 
places.  But  it  is  to  inanimate  nature  that  we 
must  go  for  our  most  brilliant  examples  of  phys- 
ical force.  What  power  in  the  wind,  when,  as  a 
tornado,  it  sweeps  along  at  more  than  one  hun- 
dred miles  an  hour ;  demolishing  mansions,  up- 
rooting forests,  and  lifting  ponderous  ships  far  in- 
land on  their  eddies  !  What  power  in  the  ocean- 
swell  as  it  tosses  an  entire  navy  to  the  skies  witli 
apparently  as  much  ease  as  if  it  were  a  single 
cockle-shell !  —  What  is  this  that  comes  rushing 
through  the  landscape  with  smoky  breath  and 
thunderous  step,  dragging  thousands  of  tons  at 
the  pace  of  winds  ?  Within  that  flying  iron  cra- 
ter is  imprisoned  one  of  nature's  brawniest  forces, 
steam — throwing  off  feats  of  toil  with  its  vaporous 
arms,  which  arms  of  flesh  and  blood  have  never 
even  been  fabled  to  do.  —  What  have  we  here  ?  A 
few  barrels  filled  with  very  simple  black  grains. 
One  has  but  to  drop  a  spark  among  them  to  wit- 
ness a  sudden  development  of  power  that  shall 


POWER   OF  NATURE.  177 

deafen  earth  and  heaven  with  its  voice,  and  lift;  a 
city  into  mid-air.  —  Would  you  see  a  mightier 
energy  still  ?  It  is  the  year  1755.  An  unwonted 
trembling  stirs  the  air  and  ground  of  Lisbon.  In 
a  few  moments  the  broad  city  is  in  heaps.  The 
plain  around  runs  in  waves,  like  the  sea  when 
lashed  by  a  tempest.  See  —  the  distant  moun- 
tain-ranges themselves  impetuously  shake  and 
rend  and  topple  ;  Europe,  to  the  Highlands  of 
Scotland,  heaves  ;  heaves  Africa  ;  heaves  the 
whole  broad  Atlantic,  with  all  its  huge  gravi- 
ties, from  the  Pillars  of  Hercules  to  the  New 
World !  When  oceans  and  continents  are  so 
tossed  and  shot  aloft,  what  stalwart  shoulders  of 
gas  and  steam  and  fire  are  heaving  at  the  mighty 
burden !  Other  forces  among  us  are  not  small ;  but 
this  of  the  earthquake  is  easy  king  over  all  these 
terrestrial  children  of  pride.  Terrestrial,  I  say  : 
but  there  are  forces  not  terrestrial  which  are  of  a 
still  linger  and  loftier  pattern  —  celestial  forces, 
to  which  those  of  our  earth  are  what  the  bubble- 
globules  of  the  children  are  to  the  globed  worlds 
of  space.  When  such  a  planet  as  Jupiter  is 
moving  at  the  rate  of  some  thirty  thousand  miles 
an  hour ;  when  such  a  sun  as  ours  is  moving  at 
the  rate  of  some  three  thousand  miles  a  minute ; 
when  such  a  nebula  as  our  Milky  Way,  with  its 
eighteen  millions  of  suns,  goes  wheeling  at  the 
same  average  speed  about  its  center  of  gravity 
—  there  is  a  momentum  for  you,  a  magazine 


178  SIXTH  LECTURE. 

of  force  by  the  side  of  which  earthquakes  are 
puny,  and  all  the  stormy  winds  that  ever  blus- 
tered and  fought  in  their  fabled  caves  mere  zeros  ! 
Some  say  that  there  is  but  one  force  in  all  nature 
—  none  perhaps  more  apt  to  say  it  than  the 
rejecters  of  the  supernatural  —  that  the  forces 
which  pump  and  assimilate  and  reject  in  every 
blade  of  grass  and  leaf  and  animal  fiber;  the 
forces  that  throb  in  every  ray  of  light  and  heat 
and  electricity  and  magnetism,  the  forces  that 
swell  and  toil  in  every  atom  of  matter,  the  me- 
chanical forces,  the  chemical  forces,  the  spiritual 
forces,  the  forces  here  and  the  forces  yonder  to 
the  universe's  last  suburb  —  that  all  these  forces, 
with  their  incomprehensible  sum-total  of  simul- 
taneous impulses,  are,  after  all,  but  branches  of 
one  great  central  force  pushing  outward  in  an  in- 
finite variety  of  directions  and  forms.  If  tins  is 
so  —  and  who  is  competent  to  positively  deny  it  — 
what  a  single  force  that  is  which  can  diffuse  itself 
over  so  immense  an  area,  and  divide  itself  so  in- 
finitely, and  yet  thunder  away  at  special  points 
with  such  marvelous  and  terrible  energy  !  If 
this  is  not  so,  still  what  a  wondrous  hive  of 
swarming  and  independent  dynamics  in  this  wide 
nature  of  ours ! 

Of  course,  no  one  could  have  the  hardihood  to 
say  that  a  nature  stocked  with  such  energies  as 
these  makes  positively  against  the  doctrine  of  a 
Creator  who  is  himself  an  Almighty  Force.  On 


POWER   OF  NATURE.  179 

the  contrary,  there  is  a  friendly  harmony  between 
the  doctrine  and  the  fact.  Were  we  to  find  in 
actual  existence  a  Personal  Power  to  whom  noth- 
ing is  impossible,  and  learn  that  he  is  about  to 
produce  a  universe,  we  should  expect  to  see  pro- 
duced just  such  a  wonderfully  strong  nature  as  we 
actually  have  —  a  nature  peopled  with  strengths, 
momenta,  brawny  agencies  of  most  imposing  forms 
and  magnitudes.  A  weak  system,  a  system  that 
is  puny  in  its  operations  and  trifling  in  its  effects, 
would  misrepresent  him  —  shall  I  not  say,  would 
be  unworthy  of  him  ?  Most  persons  would  cer- 
tainly call  it  unsuitable ;  would  say  that  his 
very  nature  as  an  Infinite  Power  would  demand 
of  him  that  he  should  produce  a  system  that 
would  be  continually  turning  out  the  greatest  re- 
sults, and  so  must  include  forces  of  the  greatest 
efficiency.  When,  then,  I  am  told  that  a  Sublime 
Force,  who  has  Almighty  for  his  name,  is  the  au- 
thor of  nature  ;  and  I  then  proceed  to  place  my- 
self out  under  the  opon  dome  amid  the  pulsings 
and  tossings  of  innumerable  and  sometimes  im- 
measurable momenta,  and  so  lay  myself  honestly 
open  to  all  their  subtle  hints  and  magnetisms;  I 
feel  myself  silently  drinking  in  predispositions  to 
faith  as  the  exposed  fleece  drinks  in  the  dew  —  I 
feel  that  the  doctrine  matches  facts ;  that  the  as- 
serted creator  and  creation  fit  each  other  as  do 
the  die  and  the  face  of  the  coin  which  it  has 
stamped ;  that  the  theory  has  at  least  the  beiie- 


180  SIXTH  LECTURE. 

diction  of  yet  another  verisimilitude  and  presump- 
tion ;  that  Nature,  instead  of  making  oath  with  se- 
rene brow  and  uplifted  hand,  that  there  is  no  won- 
drous God,  significantly  asks,  with  abashed  voice, 
"  Is  there  not  such  a  Being  ?  "  —  in  fine,  I  feel 
that,  as  the  veil  continues  to  rise  from  the  face  of 
the  painting,  it  reveals  still  another  characteristic 
of  the  Great  Master,  clears  up  another  stretch  of 
that  vista  which  conducts  the  sight  toward  Titian 
bending  over  his  canvas  —  the  fifth  of  those  sever- 
al harmonies  which,  as  successively  presented, 
warrant  us  in  looking  faithward  with  ever-grow- 
ing kindliness  of  aspect. 

Another  feature  of  Nature  is  its  remarkable  re- 
lation to  law. 

Notice  law  and  its  exceptions  —  the  general 
steadfastness  of  modes  of  being  and  action  in  na- 
ture, and  the  occasional  breaches  in  that  stead- 
fastness. 

On  the  earth's  surface,  in  its  dark  interior,  in 
the  air  and  vault  above,  in  the  instant  present  and 
the  ancient  past  —  everywhere,  law  waves  its 
mighty  scepter.  Atoms  and  masses,  the  ponder- 
ables and  inponderables,  the  organic  and  inor- 
ganic, the  living  and  dead  —  all  are  evidently 
subjected  in  their  modes  of  being  and  action  to 
certain  fixed  rules,  sometimes  particular,  but 
more  often  covering  whole  classes  of  objects. 
Not  a  particle  floats  at  random  or  as  a  unit :  not 
a  leaf  grows  or  falls  save  according  to  rigid  gene- 


RELATION  TO  LAW.  181 

ral  principles  of  science.  All  chemical  elements 
have  their  modes  and  measures  of  combination  to 
which  they  steadfastly  adhere.  All  heat,  electri- 
city, magnetism,  gravity,  act  according  to  abiding 
methods  which  philosophers  have  gradually  dis- 
covered and  arranged  into  the  sciences  of  natural 
philosophy.  The  great  processes  of  vegetable  and 
animal  life  proceed  after  the  same  forms  and  steps, 
from  age  to  age.  The  stone  beds  of  the  world  are 
formed  and  modified  in  certain  set  ways  which 
are  the  same  now  as  in  the  periods  anterior  to 
man.  Even  the  weather,  so  often  called  fickle, 
has  its  stable  methods ;  almost  every  year  bring- 
ing to  light  some  new  general  fact  in  meteorology, 
or  extending  the  application  of  an  old  one.  Day 
and  night  succeed  each  other,  every  twenty-four 
hours,  without  variation.  The  seasons  do  not 
change  their  order  or  general  character.  All  of 
Kepler's  and  Newton's  laws  are  as  operative  to- 
day as  they  ever  have  been  since  their  discovery. 
The  planets  shoot  round  the  sun  and  are  circled 
by  their  own  moons,  on  substantially  the  same 
elliptical  orbits,  in  the  same  times,  and  with  the 
same  principles  of  alternate  retardation  and  accel- 
eration as  of  old.  All  known  changes  in  the  plan- 
etary orbits  have  been  found  to  be  bound  in  a 
law  of  periodicity  which  is  apparently  invariable. 
So  beyond  the  solar  system.  Law  still ;  nothing 
but  law ;  law  everywhere  on  ten  thousand  bla- 
zing thrones ;  largely  the  same  laws  that  prevail 


182  SIXTH  LECTURE. 

in  our  own  system !  As  far  as  we  can  observe  — 
and  it  is  no  little  that  has  been  observed  —  those 
distant  orbs  reverence  the  various  principles  of 
gravitation  and  mechanics,  and  keep  as  rigidly  to 
their  behests,  as  when  the  earliest  astronomy  gazed 
at  them  from  its  rude  Uraniberg  of  a  hill-top. 
And  every  man  of  science  is  well  persuaded  that, 
could  his  observation  alight  on  particular  orbs  of 
those  remote  and  twinkling  hosts,  he  would  find 
their  minutest  details  bound  up  in  the  chains  of 
the  same  adamantine  regularity  that  rules  our 
own  globe. 

So  in  general  we  speak.  But  we  must  not  be 
understood  to  speak  with  absolute  precision  of 
language.  In  this  wide  scene  of  steadfast  ar- 
rangements, there  are  outbreaks  of  anomaly  — 
ruptures  and  rents  and  dislocations  in  the  habits 
and  ongoings  of  nature,  like  those  in  the  strata 
of  the  earth.  It  is  a  settled  law  of  nature  that 
like  shall  produce  like  ;  yet  from  perfect  animals 
and  vegetables  occur  occasional  monstrosities  of 
organization.  It  is  a  settled  course  of  nature 
that  certain  substances,  called  poisons,  if  freely 
introduced  into  animal  systems,,  destroy  life  ;  yet 
now  and  then  a  man  is  found  who  is  even  nour- 
ished by  these  agents  of  destruction.  It  is  a  fixed 
mode  of  nature  that  frost  withers  flat  foliage  ;  yet 
the  flat  leaves  of  the  wild  laurel  flourish  out  our 
hardest  winters.  It  is  a  fixed  way  of  nature  that 
the  heavenly  bodies  move  in  ellipses  ;  yet  there 


RELATION  TO  LAW.  183 

is  reason  to  believe  that  some  comets  have  been 
found  moving  on  the  curve  called  a  parabola. 
The  steadfast  habit  of  nature  is  against  a  general 
planetary  deluge,  or  conflagration,  or  glacier- 
period,  or  destructive  convulsion  ;  yet  such  disas- 
ters, if  geology  may  be  trusted,  have  several  times 
occurred,  at  immense  intervals,  in  the  history  of 
our  own  planet.  Great  exceptional  events ; 
phenomena  without  fellows  through  an  astonish- 
ing stretch  of  ages ;  what  have  the  appearance 
of  broad  fractures  and  dislocations  of  nature, 
though  in  reality  they  may  be  the  rare  resultants 
and  accumulations  of  innumerable  natural  forces 
and  laws  crossing  each  other  in  all  directions  ; 
the  entire  destruction  and  rehabilitation  of  animal 
and  vegetable  species  —  such  events  have  taken 
place  on  this  globe  again  and  again.  Repeatedly 
has  the  earth  been  drowned  and  torn  in  pieces. 
It  has  been  piled  with  snow  and  ice  from  pole  to 
pole.  It  has  been  all  ablaze  and  fused.  And  is 
it  not  on  the  idea  of  such  a  conflagration  that  we 
can  best  account  for  the  new  stars  that  have  some- 
times flashed  suddenly  on  the  sight  with  all  the 
splendor  of  Venus  at  its  brightest,  and,  after  a 
few  months  of  changing  color  and  gradual  decay, 
finally  disappeared  ?  Thus  in  the  bosom  of  a 
general  steadfastness  are  found  occasional  out- 
breaks of  anomaly.  It  is  as  among  the  geologic 
strata  —  where  are  found  faults,  dislocations,  fis- 
sures, and  even  reversions  of  those  great  rock- 


184  SIXTH  LECTURE. 

beds  which  in  general  are  laid  down  on  a  plan  of 
utmost  regularity.  The  course  of  nature  is  like 
some  great  thoroughfare,  which  advances  through 
great  distances  without  the  slightest  solution  of 
its  continuity,  but  at  last  finds  a  great  river  thrust 
squarely  across  its  track.  On  this  side  the  thor- 
oughfare, on  that  side  the  thoroughfare,  and  here 
the  broad,  deep  flow  of  the  bridgeless  river  — 
a  river  worth  to  the  public,  it  may  be,  many 
times  what  the  perfect  continuity  of  the  road 
would  be. 

Now  this  much  is  certain.  No  one  can  say  that 
this  characteristic  of  nature  makes  positively 
against  such  a  steadfast  and  yet  miracle-working 
God  as  is  affirmed  in  the  Christian  Scriptures. 
Instead  of  opposition,  there  is  positive  harmony 
between  the  fact  and  the  doctrine.  Indeed,  such 
a  nature  as  is  observed  is  just  what  one  would 
have  expected  to  come  from  such  a  Creator  as  is 
taught.  Nay,  as  general  laws  are  necessary  to 
make  science  possible,  to  enable  men  to  forecast 
and  profit  by  experience,  to  serve  as  a  basis  for  all 
comprehensive  business  and  for  all  civil  govern- 
ment —  as  the  broader  and  profounder  the  intel- 
ligence, the  more  it  is  pleased  with  and  tends  to 
work  by  general  principles,  we  may  say  that  the 
very  nature  and  circumstances  of  Deity  would  de- 
mand of  him,  in  case  he  should  create,  to  create  a 
generally  steadfast,  law-abiding  universe.  At  the 
same  time,  a  miracle-worker  —  one  who  sees  acer- 


RELATION  TO  LAW.  185 

tain  essential  imperfection  and  intractability  in 
seco.id  causes,  preventing  their  matching  on  all 
occasions  the  perfection  of  his  ideas  ;  who,  more- 
over, sees  it  undesirable  to  allow  mere  nature  to 
hide  its  Maker  altogether  behind  its  swarming 
screen,  and  give  to  the  ideas  of  necessity  and  fatal- 
ity full  sweep  in  human  minds  —  I  say,  such  a 
being  would  be  under  a  loud  call  to  provide  in  the 
constitution  and  course  of  nature  such  sugges- 
tions and  prophecies  of  miracles  as  would  gradu- 
ally, though  perhaps  unconsciously  to  them,  pre- 
pare the  minds  of  men  for  those  crowning 
abnormals  of  the  system.  He  must  have  the 
glory  of  his  personal  agency  glimmer  through 
occasional  rents  in  the  uniformity  of  nature. 
An  anomaly-sprinkled,  miracle-suggesting,  as  well 
as  stable,  universe  must  proceed  from  his  won- 
drous hand.  He  would  be  in  conflict  with 
himself  were  he  to  produce  any  other.  And 
when  I  am  told  of  one  who  is  actually  just 
this  sort  of  divinity  —  both  law  and  miracle  : 
both  giver  and  keeper  to  an  almost  infinite 
extent  of  moral  laws  which  shall  not  pass  away ; 
while  his  iron  will,  throned  as  supremely  in 
the  realm  of  matter  as  of  morals,  yet  launches 
forth  into  special  providences  and  miracles  on 
extraordinary  occasions  —  when  I  am  told  of 
him,  and  I  then  place  myself  out  under  the 
open  dome  amid  the  massive  but  occasionally 
rifted  uniformities,  and  open  myself  freely  to  all 


1  86  SIXTH  LECTURE. 

their  subtle  hints  and  magnetisms,  I  feel  myself 
softly  drinking  in  predispositions  to  faith,  as  the 
exposed  fleece  drinks  in  the  dew.  I  feel  that  the 
doctrine  and  the  facts  are  at  one  ;  that  the  asserted 
Creator  and  the  observed  creation  fit  each  other 
as  do  the  signet  and  the  seal  just  stamped  ;  that 
another  verisimilitude  spreads  blessing,  if  trem- 
ulous, hand  over  the  theory ;  that  Nature  in- 
stead of  sonorously  swearing  that  there  is  no 
Divine  Being  whose  double  name  is  Law  and  Mira- 
cle, significantly  asks,  with  abashed  and  startled 
tones,  "  Is  there  not  such  a  Being  ?  "  In  fine,  I 
feel  that,  as  the  veil  continues  to  rise  from  the  face 
of  the  painting,  it  reveals  still  another  character- 
istic of  the  Great  Master,  clears  up  another  stretch 
of  that  vista  which  conducts  the  sight  toward 
Titian  bending  over  his  canvas  —  the  sixth  of 
those  several  harmonies  which,  as  successively  pre- 
sented, warrant  us  in  looking  faithward  with  ever- 
growing kindliness  of  aspect. 

Another  feature  of  Nature  is  its  wonderful  re- 
lation to  time  and  motion. 

How  long  has  our  race  existed  ?  The  infidel 
may  choose  to  say  a  hundred  thousand  years ; 
none  will  say  less  than  six  thousand.  How  long 
has  the  earth  itself  existed  ?  The  atheist  may 
choose  to  say,  Forever.  The  geologist,  thinking 
of  his  coal  beds  and  deltas  and  rocky  strata  sown 
with  the  bones  of  extinct  species,  and  of  the  time 
requisite  for  their  formation,  is  sure  of  several 


RELATION  TO   TIME  AND  MOTION.          187 

hundred  thousand  years.  How  long  are  the 
earth  and  its  confederates  in  the  solar  system 
calculated  to  endure  ?  Geometry  declares  that 
no  element  of  decay  within  endangers  the  sta- 
bility of  the  system  of  the  world.  That  year 
which  circumscribes  our  seasons  is  only  three 
hundred  and  sixty-five  days  ;  but  the  earth  has 
another  year  to  which  this  is  a  mere  point  —  its 
pole  -goes  nodding  through  space  in  a  circle  which 
it  takes  twenty-five  thousand  years  to  traverse. 
What  think  you  of  a  planet  whose  winter  is  more 
than  forty  of  our  years,  of  a  comet  whose  year  is 
more  than  thirty  of  our  centuries,  of  a  sun  whose 
year  is  more  than  eighteen  thousand  of  our  mil- 
lenniums? All  the  planetary  orbits  pass  through 
cycles  of  changes  varying  in  length  from  a  few 
centuries  to  nine  thousand,  to  seventy  thousand, 
to  even  many  million  years  ;  but  the  greatest  of 
these  planetary  cycles  are  as  nothing  compared 
with  those  enormous  periods  which  bound  the 
perturbations  and  express  the  secular  equations 
of  the  sun  and  fixed  stars  —  periods  including 
more  years  than  imagination  has  ever  succeeded 
in  realizing  to  itself.  What  amazing  longevities ! 
What  portentous  numerals !  They  are  hiero- 
glyphics of  the  everlasting.  They  lift  us  among 
the  dizziest  peaks  of  the  sublime. 

These  immense  periods,  interspersed  with  others 
exceedingly  small,  sometimes  express  an  exceed- 
ingly slow  movement  among  the  powers  of  nature. 


188  SIXTH  LECTURE. 

In  other  cases,  the  movement  with  which  they 
are  connected  is  exceedingly  rapid.  The  times 
consumed  in  the  formation  of  the  coal-beds  and 
rock-strata,  and  in  the  long  perturbations  of  the 
planetary  and  stellar  orbits,  are  examples  of  the 
first  class  of  periods  ;  the  years  of  the  planets  and 
stars  in  their  orbits  are  examples  of  the  second. 
In  the  first  class,  natural  forces  creep  along  to 
their  objects  with  miraculous  slowness  ;  in  the 
other,  they  flash  along  with  swiftness  equally 
astounding.  Some  orbits  gradually  lengthen 
themselves,  say  an  inch  in  a  thousand  years. 
Some  of  the  stars  dart  along  their  year  of  one 
hundred  and  eighty  thousand  centuries  at  the  in- 
comprehensible rate  of  one  hundred  and  eighty 
thousand  miles  an  hour.  Could  we  plant  our- 
selves immovably  at  a  certain  point  in  the  celes- 
tial spaces,  and  see  our  sun  go  sailing  by  with  all 
its  glorious  squadrons  of  planets  and  moons  — 
sailing  down  the^abyss  as  if  driven  by  ten  thou- 
sand hurricanes  —  would  not  the  sight  of  such 
celerity  almost  irrecoverably  daze  both  senses  and 
spirit  ? 

If,  now,  one  should  start  up  to  say  that  these 
great  cycles,  imbosoming  unutterable  extremes 
of  movement,  makes  positively  against  an  Eter- 
nal God  who  is  able  to  move  to  his  purpose  like 
the  light  or  at  a  rate  so  trifling  as  to  be  quite  im- 
perceptible by  human  senses,  we  should  laugh  his 
logic  to  scorn.  We  know  better.  These  are  facts 


RELATION  TO   TIME  AND  MOTION.         189 

that  palpably  agree  with  such  a  theism.  Instead 
of  contradicting  it,  they  express  a  state  of  things 
that  might  have  been  expected  from  a  being  who 
has  both  unlimited  time  and  unlimited  speed  at 
his  disposal  —  who,  if  he  chooses  to  wait,  has 
never  occasion  to  haste  ;  or,  if  he  chooses  to  haste, 
has  never  occasion  to  wait  —  who  is  alike  able  to 
dart  on  his  purpose  as  if  infinite  whirlwinds  were  in 
his  wings,  or  to  approach  it  at  a  rate  so  minute  that 
no  human  sense  can  discern  the  movement  in  the 
lapse  of  generations.  Suppose  such  a  God  to  be 
about  to  create  a  nature,  could  you  not  confidently 
predict  after  this  manner — "  This  Being  of  mighty 
periods  will  establish  mighty  periods  :  this  Being 
who  can  readily  proceed  on  his  endlessly  varied  de- 
signs, at  all  imaginable  and  unimaginable  rates  of 
speed,  will  diversify  his  works  with  all  the  veloci- 
ties." A  God  who  himself  has  no  duration  to  speak 
of — if  there  may  be  such  a  God  — would  never 
have  stored  his  nature  with  such  mighty  cycles ;  a 
God  who  himself  never  did  a  swift  thing  would 
never  have  set  his  laws  to  spurring  on  planets  and 
suns  so  astoundingly ;  a  God  who  himself  never 
did  a  slow  thing  would  never  have  yoked  such 
slow-footed  forces  to  events,  as  we  observe  actually 
dragging  at  some  of  them.  It  is  only  a  God  who 
has  substantial  forevers  on  his  hands,  and  who  on 
occasion  can  lighten  and  on  occasion  can  linger 
ineffably  along  the  highway  of  his  purposes,  who 
is  properly  represented  by  such  a  nature.  In  case 


190  SIXTH  LECTURE. 

he  gives  any  nature  at  all,  his  character  demands 
of  him  to  give  just  this  —  one  expressing  his  own 
attributes.  So  when  I  am  told  of  one  whose  lon- 
gevity is  eternity,  whose  orbit  of  existence  has  an 
infinite  axis,  who  reaches  an  Atonement  after 
slowly  beating  toward  it  for  forty  centuries,  who 
is  ages  and  dispensations  in  establishing  his  king- 
dom in  the  world,  who  commonly  approaches  the 
punishment  of  sinners  with  steps  lingering  through 
numberless  delays  and  forbearances,  and  who  yet 
sometimes  yokes  steeds  of  wind  and  fire  and  foam 
to  his  car  —  as  when  some  Korah  and  his  com- 
pany go  down  quick  into  the  pit ;  or  some  Uzziah, 
profanely  grasping  an  ark,  falls  dead  ;  or  some 
Ananias  and  Sapphira,  lying  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  are 
rushed  to  judgment  in  an  instant's  brief  space  — 
when  I  am  told  of  such  a  God  creating  nature  ; 
and  I  then  betake  myself  abroad  under  the  open 
dome  amid  those  swarming  and  wondrous  orbits 
of  time,  now  scarred  and  smoking  with  the  hot 
hoofs  of  electric  forces,  and  now  pressed  by  the 
velvety  and  trackless  feet  of  forces  born  of  the 
snail ;  and  frankly  lay  myself  open  to  all  their 
subtle  hints  and  magnetisms  —  I  feel  myself  silent- 
ly drinking  in  faith,  as  the  exposed  fleece  drinks 
in  the  dew  —  I  feel  that  there  is  a  significant 
matching  of  what  we  are  taught  with  what  we 
observe  ;  that  such  theism  is  on  most  excellent  and 
embracing  terms  with  Nature,  which,  so  far  from 
saying  with  uplifted,  oath-making  hand,  '  that 


MYSTERIOUSNESS  OF  KATURE.  191 

there  is  no  Eternal  God  who,  as  an  agent,  is  equally 
at  home  in  an  instant  and  an  age,'  at  least  stands 
tremulously  querying,  "  Is  there  not  such  a  Be- 
ing ?  " —  in  fine,  I  feel  that,  as  the  veil  continues  to 
rise  from  the  face  of  the  painting,  it  reveals  still 
another  characteristic  of  the  Great  Master,  clears 
up  another  stretch  of  that  vista  which  conducts 
the  sight  on  Titian  painting  away  sublimely  at  his 
glowing  and  glorified  landscape  —  the  seventh  of 
those  several  harmonies  which,  as  successively 
presented,  warrant  us  in  looking  faithward  with 
ever-growing  kindliness  of  aspect. 

Another  feature  —  the  mysteriousness  of  Na- 
ture. 

Who  does  not  know  it  ?  —  terrestrial  nature 
is  one  huge  sphinx.  She  vomits  enigmas  on  us 
in  seas.  Riddles  too  profound  for  the  highest 
science  yet  in  our  possession  lurk  in  every  ray 
of  light,  in  every  blade  of  grass,  in  every  rudest 
stone.  Only  some  of  the  coarser  facts  in  rela- 
tian  to  a  few  things  here  and  there,  hare  been 
picked  up  arid  systematized ;  and  these  are  what 
compose  our  boasted  sciences.  From  surface  to 
center,  the  earth  is  choked  with  mysteries  whose 
stony  rind  has  never  yet  received  a  blow,  much 
less  a  fracture,  from  the  mallet  of  investigation. 
Come  now,  ye  great  Computers,  compute  for  us 
how  long  it  will  be  before  the  science,  which  loses 
itself  at  the  very  threshold  of  the  complexities 
of  this  world,  will  be  able  to  swoop  down  with 


192  SIXTH  LECTCRE. 

triumphant  wing  upon  the  surfaces  and  to  the 
fiery  centers  of  those  fellow  planets  that  myste- 
riously weave  and  interweave  paths  across  the 
concave,  and  thoroughly  solve  the  problem  of  all 
their  swarming  contents !  A  disorderly  maze 
are  the  apparent  paths  of  the  members  of  our 
solar  system  !  But  you  say  that  the  real  paths 
are  not  as  intricate  as  the  apparent.  Take  your 
stand,  then,  at  the  sun,  and  observe  planets  and 
comets  going  and  coming  at  all  distances  and 
rates  of  velocity  and  directions ;  while  around 
most  of  the  larger  planets  are  similarly  moving, 
other  systems  of  satellites  —  is  it  not  an  intricate 
as  well  as  a  brave  sight  ?  Can  you  see  through 
the  mazy  plan  ?  But  you  say  that  it  has  been 
seen  through,  and  planetariums  have  been  made 
that  clearly  represent  the  whole  thing  to  us  with- 
in a  few  feet  of  space.  How  many  centuries 
and  philosophers,  0  Copernicus  —  Copernicus,  I 
say,  away  yonder  in  the  depths  of  four  hundred 
years  ago  —  did  it  take  to  make  that  orrery  and 
solve  that  riddle  of  the  system  of  the  world  ? 
Indeed,  it  is  yet  very  far  from  solution.  Astron- 
omers can  only  completely  account  for  the  move- 
ments of  a  system  of  two  bodies.  A  system  of 
three  is  quite  beyond  them ;  one  of  a  hundred 
and  more  bodies,  like  our  solar  system,  immeasur- 
ably beyond  them.  There  is  not  even  a  hope 
that  science,  with  all  its  dynamical  calculuses, 
will  ever  overtake  this  higher  problem.  But 


MYSTERIOUSNESS  OF  NATURE.  193 

there  is  a  higher  problem  still.  Solar  system 
revolves  around  solar  system;  a  group  of  such 
systems  around  a  similar  group ;  a  cluster  of 
such  groups  around  a  similar  cluster;  a  firma- 
ment of  such  clusters  around  a  similar  firmament. 
Indeed,  as  we  have  seen,  the  whole  universe  of 
stars,  with  all  the  countless  fleets  of  planets  and 
moons  which  they  represent,  must,  according  to 
the  law  of  gravity,  revolve  about  a  last  center  of 
centers.  Let  us  go  to  it.  Standing  at  this 
Heaven  —  for  is  not  this  the  dazzling  metropolis 
where  dwells  the  sublime  Cesar  of  the  creation — 
standing  at  this  wondrous  point,  and  looking 
forth  on  the  countless  nebulae  coming  and  going 
at  all  imaginable  distances,  speeds,  and  direc- 
tions—  lo,  what  a  glorious  scene  of  bewilder- 
ment and  unsearchable  complexity!  It  fairly 
takes  away  our  breath  to  look.  There  is  no 
more  spirit  left  in  us.  If  a  system  of  three 
bodies  is  too  much  for  the  most  subtle  and  com- 
prehensive science  yet  known,  what  can  ever  be 
done  by  all  coming  generations  and  geniuses, 
however  imperial,  toward  mastering  such  laby- 
riiithian  immensity  of  involved  orbs  ? 

Now  hearken  to  the  Christian  Scriptures  — 
affirming  a  Maker  of  nature  who  is  himself  the 
mightiest  of  all  enigmas.  "  Verily,  thou  art  a 
God  that  hidest  thyself —  Canst  thou  by  searching 
find  out  God ;  canst  thou  find  out  the  Almighty 
to  perfection  —  It  is  high  as  heaven;  what  canst 


194  SIXTH  LECTURE. 

thou  do :  deep  as  hell ;  what  canst  thou  know  ?  " 
Does  the  aspect  of  nature  contradict  this  doc- 
trine ?  Who  will  presume  to  deny  that  the  in- 
comprehensible materialism  about  us,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  more  incomprehensible  spiritual- 
ism within  us,  is  just  what  one  would  expect  to 
find  issuing  from  the  hands  of  an  incomprehensi- 
ble Creator  —  a  being  mysteriously  without  a 
beginning,  mysteriously  self-existent,  mysteriously 
able  to  make  the  greatest  and  noblest  things  out 
of  nothing  by  simple  volition,  mysteriously  all- 
knowing,  mysteriously  unfettered  in  the  appli- 
cation of  his  power  and  knowledge  by  all  con- 
ditions of  space  and  duration  and  personal 
presence,  mysteriously  Three  in  One  —  in  short, 
a  being  enveloped  in  a  terrible  pomp  and  majesty 
of  sunset-clouds,  whose  broken  lines  never  per- 
mit the  orb  that  glorifies  them  to  appear,  even 
for  a  moment,  in  clear  and  golden  contour  on 
our  rapt  sight.  Such  a  being,  setting  out  to 
create,  would  be  likely  to  give  us  the  present 
enigmatic  universe,  nay  —  for  why  state  the  mat- 
ter so  feebly  —  would  be  sure  to  give  it.  Like 
every  other  copious  author,  he  would  reproduce 
his  own  traits.  An  unutterable  sphinx  himself, 
his  creatures  would  be  sphinxes.  A  nature  from 
the  hands  of  God  that  I  can  comprehend,  or 
make  any  approach  to  comprehending  —  prepos- 
terous! A  creation  that  to  me,  with  my  low 
place  and  filmy  vision  and  narrow  orbit,  is  not 


MTSTERIOUSNESS  OF  NATURE.  195 

steeped  in  seas  of  mystery  —  preposterous  !  If  a 
Jehovah  build  the  temple  of  nature  at  all,  he  will 
found  it  on  mysteries,  frame  it  with  mysteries, 
cover  and  dome  it  with  mysteries,  pillar  and 
ballast  it  with  mysteries,  pave  and  ceil  it  with 
a  mosaic  of  mysteries  —  surely  he  will.  And 
when  I  am  told  of  a  being  whose  own  nature  is 
an  overwhelming  problem  ;  whose  attributes  have 
no  horizon,  no  zenith,  and  no  nadir;  whose  ends 
respect  all  possible  objects  and  interests,  and 
spread  themselves  out  in  plans  of  boundless  \  ast- 
ness  whose  merest  corners  and  differentials  only 
are  visible  to  men  of  the  widest  scope :  when  I 
am  told  of  him,  and  I  then  place  myself  out  un- 
der nature's  open  dome,  amid  its  Protean  inscru- 
tableness  of  leaf  and  star,  of  whole  crowded  earth 
and  circumventing  heavens  —  the  peopled  heavens 
where  sweep  in  inextricable  maze  the  hurricane 
hosts  of  advancing  and  retreating  orbs  ;  and  open 
my  soul  candidly  to  all  their  silent  suggestions 
and  magnetisms  —  I  feel  myself  drinking  in  faith, 
as  the  fleece  spread  out  under  the  stars  drinks  in 
the  dew  —  I  feel  that  the  facts  give  embracing 
arms  to  the  doctrine  ;  that  the  actual  universe, 
instead  of  swearing  with  decisive  voice  and  hand 
uplift  to  heaven  that  there  is  no  inscrutable  God, 
significantly  asks  with  panting  whisper  and  color 
that  comes  and  goes, "  Is  there  not  such  a  Being  ? " 
In  fine,  I  feel  that  our  continued  lifting  of  the 
veil  from  the  painting  has  disclosed  another  char- 


196  SIXTH  LECTURE. 

acteristic  of  the  great  master  to  whom  the  work 
is  attributed ;  has  cleared  up  another  stretch  of 
that  vista  which  conducts  the  sight  to  Titian  in 
the  act  of  glorifying  his  canvas  into  the  Milanese 
Coronation-Christ  —  another  of  those  many  har- 
monies which,  as  successively  presented,  warrant 
us  in  looking  faithward  with  ever-growing  kindli- 
ness of  aspect. 

Such  are  the  facts.  I  do  not  say,  "  Ex  uno  disce 
omnes  "  —  as  does  the  naturalist  sometimes  when 
he  finds  a  bone.  But  I  say,  "  Ex  multis  et  maximis 
disce  omnes  "  —  as  does  a  Cuvier  when  he  enthusi- 
astically discovers  nearly  a  complete  skeleton.  The 
vestiges  we  have  been  viewing  are  no  scant  minims. 
They  are  no  few,  narrow,  disconnected  particulars. 
On  the  contrary,  they  are  great  genera  —  the  con- 
trolling outlines  of  the  picture,  the  massive  frame 
of  the  edifice,  the  sovereign  characteristics,  the 
leading  facts  and  courses  of  Nature.  As  such  they 
give  us,  so  to  speak,  an  extensive  taste  of  Nature. 
They  show  us  the  grand  whole,  with  what  is  a  car- 
dinal, and  seems  to  be  an  essential,  flavor.  But  we 
are  entitled  to  assume  the  self-consistency  of  Nature, 
especially  in  regard  to  leading  features.  None  so 
forward  to  insist  on  this  self-consistency  as  the 
modern  opponents  of  our  natural  theology.  Indeed, 
we  only  do  what  is  the  habit,  and  the  unrebuked 
habit,  and,  as  we  well  know,  the  wondrously  suc- 
cessful habit  of  all  Baconian  philosophers,  when  we 
boldly  proceed  on  the  ground  that  Nature  is  one, 


TOTAL  SCIENTIFIC  IMPORT.  197 

and  that  according  to  what  has  been  discovered 
of  her  features  is  what  remains  to  be  discovered. 
So  we  are  allowed  to  make  broad  our  conclusions. 
So  we  are  allowed  to  say  of  the  integer  what  we 
have  said  of  the  fraction.  Instead  of  contenting 
ourselves  with  affirming  that  her  wisdom,  and  her 
vastness,  and  her  power,  and  many  another  trait 
sympathizes  with  the  doctrine  of  a  God,  we  may 
go  on  to  say  that  Nature  herself  sympathizes  with 
the  doctrine.  She  smiles  upon  it.  She  smiles,  not 
as  a  multum,  nor  as  a  majority,  but  as  a  total. 
The  whole  picture  is  Titianic.  The  whole  Cos- 
mos is  just  as  if  made  by  God.  We  might  go 
on  lifting  the  curtain  from  before  her  face  ten, 
twenty,  never  so  many  times,  and  always  with 
the  same  result.  Never  a  break  in  the  verdict. 
Never  a  rise  of  the  veil  that  says,  "  Lo,  here  the 
facts  are  out  of  sympathy  with  the  doctrine." 
Never  a  trait  of  that  queenly  face  comes  drift- 
ing into  view  to  say,  "  Lo,  here  is  something  that 
looks  as  if  there  were  no  God."  For  now  some 
thousands  of  years  our  natural  knowledge  has 
been  advancing,  and  the  envious  curtain  has  been 
rising,  step  by  step  ;  and  never  yet,  I  am  bold 
to  say,  has  the  observer,  after  carefully  looking 
on  the  picture  without  and  carefully  listening  to 
the  voice  within,  ever  heard  any  other  words  than 
these  :  "  Just  as  if  made  by  God  —  Just  as  if  made 
by  God !  "  Should  we  go  on  lifting  the  curtain 
till  it  is  looped  up  to  the  very  ceiling  of  the  utter- 


198  SIXTH  LECTURE. 

most  heaven,  we  should  find  all  things  in  harmony 
with  that  sonorous  verdict  that  has  already  come 
surging  in  upon  us  from  the  four  cardinals,  like  so 
many  trade-winds  :  "  Just  as  if — Just  as  if."  Oh  be 
sure  we  may  go  on  from,  speaking  of  the  attitude  of 
parts  of  Nature  to  speaking  of  the  attitude  of  Nature 
herself!  She,  this  modern  goddess,  is  no  enraged 
Bellona,  shaking  her  spear  in  the  face  of  the  doc- 
trine. She  is  not  even  adverse  after  the  softest 
and  sweetest-tempered  Cyprian  fashion.  Her  ways 
are  most  kindly  and  cordial.  She  embraces  the 
doctrine.  As  we  see  ourselves  pictured  in  the 
glad,  beaming  eyes  of  the  long-lost  friend  whom 
we  hold  in  our  arms,  so  the  Theism  sees  itself  pic- 
tured in  the  cordial  eyes  of  embracing  Nature. 
Their  voices  chord.  They  are  phone  and  anti- 
phone.  They  are  parts  in  the  same  rich  chorus. 
The  doctrine  is  merely  the  shadow  which  Nature 
casts  on  a  book.  And  I  think  I  am  modest  in  my 
asking  when  I  ask  that  so  many  and  great  verisimil- 
itudes be  considered  as  completely  clearing  the 
ground  for  faith,  and  as  standing  at  the  open  gate 
of  the  judgment  with  bright  and  welcoming  faces, 
ready  to  grant  possession  at  the  first  summons  of 
the  positive  evidence.  I  think  I  might  reasonably 
ask  much  more.  I  might  lay  stress  on  a  great 
difference  between  our  case  and  that  of  the  sup- 
posed painting  by  Titian  ;  might  point  you  to  the 
fact  that  whatever  traits  of  that  master  are  found  in 
that  picture,  are  obviously  such  in  nature  and  degree 


TOTAL  SCIENTIFIC  IMPORT.  199 

as  lie  fully  within  the  power  of  many  a  human  na- 
ture ;  whereas  many  of  those  traits  of  Nature  which 
we  have  just  come  from  viewing  are  presumptively 
and  enormously  impossible  to  any  agency  short  of  a 
Divine.  But  let  this  be  waived.  Let  me  only  claim 
that  with  every  new  harmony  which  the  rising 
curtain  has  discovered,  my  mind  has  rationally 
moved  faithward :  and  that  now,  when  these  har- 
monies have  been  found  many  and  potential  enough 
to  give  character  to  the  whole  magnificent  Out- 
spread, my  fleece,  exposed  through  the  long  night 
till  full  break  of  day,  is  rationally  wringing  wet 
with  the  dew  of  predispositions  to  faith ;  and  that, 
at  least  just  as  soon  as  the  positive  evidence  pushes 
its  orb  above  the  horizon,  I  may  hold  it  fair  and 
scientific  to  allow  each  tiny  drop  to  be  trans- 
figured from  the  silver  of  a  predisposition  to  faith 
into  the  gold  of  faith  itself —  making,  as  I  think, 
the  true  golden  fleece  of  Colchis  for  modern  times, 
for  which  all  Argos  should  sail  and  all  heroes  strive. 


VII.    NEED  OF  GOD. 

«.    POLARITIES  OF  CHARACTER 203 

2.  PRACTICAL  INFLUENCE  OF  FAITH    .        .       .       .        .    208 

3.  DIRECT  DIVINE  ACTION 223 

4.  TOTAL  SCIENTIFIC  IMPORT . .  228 


VII. 

NEED   OF  GOD. 

To,  @€//,e\ia  TOV  ovpavov  Icnrapd^Orja-av. 

Se  Atos  Ke^prj^Oa  Travrcs.  —  Aratus. 


SEVENTH  LECTURE. 


NEED  OF   GOD. 

WE  are  not  only  beckoned  toward  Theism  by 
the   harmonies   between  it  and  Nature,  but 
we  are  beckoned  toward  it  even  more  strongly  by 
that  crying  Need  of  God  which  a  little  examina- 
tion will  discover. 

It  is  a  very  striking  thing  —  the  general  wish  for 
a  God  that  exists  among  virtuous  men.  We  seem 
to  see  that,  from  the  beginning  till  now,  there  never 
has  been  a  person  who  has  honestly  tried  to  follow 
his  conscience  who  has  not  honestly  desired  to  find 
Him  a  reality.  And,  the  more  conscientious  and 
exemplary  the  man  has  grown,  the  more  unwilling 
has  he  become  to  part  with  the  idea  of  such  a 
Being  with  His  universal  and  glorious  providence. 
There  are  persons  who  would  as  soon  be  without 
God  as  not ;  nay,  there  are  those  who  could  hardly 
hear  pleasanter  news  than  that  the  whole  Theistic 
argument  has  been  fairly  overturned  from  the 
foundation,  and  the  impossibility  of  a  God  proved 
beyond  all  possibility  of  denial.  Oh,  how  scoffing 


204  SEVENTH  LECTURE. 

Voltaire  and  licentious  Rousseau  and  bloated  Paine 
would  have  clapped  their  hands  and  shouted,  could 
they  have  fallen  on  some  wonderful  geometry 
which  by  its  rigid  demonstrations  could  compel 
even  the  most  unwilling  to  give  up  their  last  plea 
for  Deity !  Oh,  how  the  high-handed  evil-doers 
of  every  name,  sinning  and  impetuously  bent  on 
sinning,  would  congratulate  themselves,  could  it  be 
made  as  plain  as  day  that  such  a  machine  as  a 
thinking,  embodied  man  was  created  by  chance ; 
that  chance  fitted  up  the  earth  as  his  convenient 
home,  and  hung  out  the  heavens  above  him  with 
the  blazon  of  stars  and  suns !  But  as  soon  as  a 
sinner  has  made  up  his  mind  conclusively  against 
sin,  and  has  fully  committed  himself  for  endless 
war  upon  it  in  all  its  forms,  then  he  ceases  to  be 
averse  or  indifferent  to  the  Divine  existence ;  then 
he  begins  to  positively  like  the  idea,  as  including 
that  of  a  righteous  Divine  government ;  then  he 
begins  to  cling  to  it,  to  bless  it,  to  feel  that  he 
cannot  do  without  it ;  and  as  he  goes  on  to  higher 
and  higher  grades  of  virtue,  the  feeling  in  behalf  of 
God  gradually  deepens  into  a  profound  hunger  and 
thirst.  He  says,  "  My  soul  thirsts  for  God,  for  the 
living  God."  To  him  an  offer  to  disprove  God 
would  be  an  offer  to  make  the  universe  an  awful 
solitude  and  desert. 

For,  he  looks  around  and  sees  all  things  waver- 
ing and  changing  like  the  baseless  fabric  of  a  vision  ; 
and  even  those  things  which  seemed  most  solid  and 


POLARITIES.  205 

stable,  and  to  which  multitudes  had  ventured  to 
anchor  themselves  as  to  so  much  eternity,  quietly 
or  violently  slip  away  and  dissolve  and  leave  not  a 
rack  behind.  And  is  there  nothing  stable  in  this 
shifting  scene  ?  Is  there  no  rock  that  lifts  its  head 
high  above  the  fluctuations,  and  shakes  not,  trem- 
bles not,  for  aye,  though  all  things  rock  and  break 
and  die  around  ?  Is  there  no  one  point  of  stability 
around  which  poor  man  may  gather  his  affections 
and  trusts  and  reverences  and  hopes  without  being 
liable  every  moment  to  see  his  center  vanish  into 
thin  air  ?  At  such  a  moment  it  is  a  great  comfort 
for  him  to  look  up  and  see,  or  think  he  sees,  a  God 
of  infinite  goodness  standing  fast  forever  in  the 
wide  sea  of  change  —  a  still,  green  continent  amid 
the  tossing  ocean,  under  the  lee  of  whicL  the  ship 
may  pass  the  night  without  fear  of  finding  its  shel- 
ter gone  in  the  morning,  like  a  bank  of  clouds  —  a 
pole-star  that  is  always  there,  though  every  other 
orb  at  least  rises  and  sets.  Here  at  last  is  repose  — 
here  at  length  something  to  build  upon.  Here  is  a 
friend  who  will  never  die  —  here  a  glorious  provi- 
dence that  will  never  have  done  reigning  —  here  an 
unspeakable  lover  who  will  never  grow  cold  —  here 
the  perpetual  overruler  of  his  mistakes  and  sins  ; 
enlightener  of  his  conscience  ;  eradicator  of  his 
depravity  ;  educator  of  his  incompetency  ;  support 
and  consolation  under  his  trials,  come  when  and 
where  they  may.  For,  in  the  time  of  distress,  he 
can  look  away  to  the  righteous  throne  of  the  In- 


206  SEVENTH  LECTURE 

finite  Disposer,  and  see  stars  seeding  his  darkness. 
And  when  the  hour  is  midnight,  he  is  not  unused  to 
say,  "  What  should  I  do  now  without  a  God  to  go 
to  ?  "  He  goes  to  God,  and  his  heart  is  bound  up. 
And  it  is  a  gladness  to  feel  that  he  can  do  this  for- 
ever, could  his  sorrow  last  so  long;  for  his  heart 
sings  amid  its  groans,  "  O  Lord,  Thy  years  are 
throughout  all  generations."  In  fine,  it  is  such  a 
comfort  to  have  a  God,  that  it  would  be  day  turned 
to  night  were  his  Theism  to  become  an  atheism. 

Now  truth  is  kindred  and  polar  to  goodness ;  and 
so  the  desires  of  good  men  are  most  apt  to  harmo- 
nize with  and  point  at  the  truth.  The  most  virtuous 
have  most  affinity  with  the  truth ;  are  most  free 
from  prejudices  and  intellectual  obliquities ;  are 
the  most  fair-minded,  earnest,  and  laborious  in  their 
inquiries ;  and  so  their  opinions  and  tendencies  to 
opinions  are  most  apt  to  be  correct.  —  Also,  the 
mind  when  virtuous  is  in  its  soundest  and  most  nor- 
mal state ;  and  the  features  which  belong  to  the 
whole  class  of  virtuous  minds,  in  proportion  to  their 
virtue,  are  natural  to  the  virtuous  mind.  But,  on 
observation,  we  find  that  there  are,  outside  of  this 
case  and  two  or  three  other  mooted  cases  —  such  as 
that  of  the  desire  for  immortality — no  desires  natu- 
ral to  a  sound  human  constitution  for  objects  which 
do  not  exist.  Thus  a  desire  for  food,  for  friend- 
ship, for  knowledge,  for  reputation,  for  society, 
for  liberty,  for  freedom  from  pain,  is  natural  to  every 
sound  human  constitution ;  and  the  object  of  each 


POLARITIES.  207 

of  these  desires  actually  exists.  The  food  exists 
to  meet  the  hunger ;  the  beauty  exists  to  meet  the 
taste  for  beauty ;  there  is  knowledge,  society,  health, 
to  meet  the  natural  relish  for  each  of  these  things. 
Indeed,  you  cannot  point  out  a  single  desire  natu- 
ral to  a  sound  human  nature  to  which  there  is  not 
an  answering  object  somewhere  ;  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, such  answering  object  is  certainly  known  to 
exist,  outside  of  the  two  or  three  disputed  cases, 
like  that  under  consideration.  Hence  we  must 
conclude  that  the  desire  for  God,  which  is  natural 
to  virtuous  or  normal  minds,  has  over  against  it  in 
the  outward  universe  such  a  God  to  fulfill  it.  —  But 
what  I  am  more  particularly  concerned  with  at 
present  is  the  strong  testimony  which  the  attitude 
of  virtuous  men  toward  Theism  gives  to  the  need 
of  God.  The  utmost  we  can  be  asked  to  allow, 
in  regard  to  the  disposition  of  such  men  to  believe 
in  God,  is  that  it  comes  from  a  desire  for  such  a 
Being.  They  wish  a  God,  and  this  feeling  natu- 
rally draws  faith  after  it.  The  wish  is  father  to 
the  thought.  Supposing  this  to  be  so  —  supposing 
that  the  whole  case  is  reduced  to  one  of  desire 
for  a  God  —  how  comes  such  a  desire  to  exist,  to 
exist  in  proportion  to  virtue,  to  exist  in  the  most 
virtuous  as  an  intense  craving  ?  Two  answers  can 
be  given.  One  is  that  such  craving  is  the  instinct- 
ive aching  of  a  great  vacancy  for  a  great  supply  : 
the  other  is  that  the  craving  comes  from  an  intel- 
lectual judgment  that  a  God  is  vastly  desirable. 


208  SEVENTH  LECTURE. 

In  both  cases  we  have  human  nature  in  its  sound- 
est state  testifying  loudly  to  the  need  of  God ;  in 
the  one  case  by  its  natural  instincts,  and  in  the 
other  by  its  intellectual  convictions.  And  the  need 
testified  to  is  organic,  because  it  belongs  to  essential 
human  nature  in  its  most  normal  state  —  is  generic, 
because  it  belongs  to  a  great  class  of  beings  —  is 
most  important  in  kind,  because  it  belongs  to  the 
most  important  of  earthly  beings  in  their  most  im- 
portant relations.  Whoever  has  virtue  is  Agamem- 
non, king  of  men.  When  you  see  a  fairly  hung 
vane  straining  away  at  the  west  as  if  a  gale  were 
blowing  from  that  quarter,  make  sure  there  sits  the 
wind.  And  when  you  see  our  best  and  truest  na- 
ture pointing  Godward  with  a  snowy  finger  as  de- 
termined and  intense  as  was  ever  chiseled  out  of 
marble,  make  sure  that  a  broad  organic  need  of 
God  is  invoking  that  motionless  digit. 

But  the  traveler  may  not  only  wish  to  be  reliably 
pointed  in  the  direction  of  a  great  city ;  he  may 
wish  to  advance,  and  see  it  with  his  own  eyes.  It 
is  thus  his  impression  of  it  will  become  more  cor- 
rect, vivid,  and  enduring.  And  we  shall  have  that 
Need  of  God  which  the  polarities  of  good  men 
point  at,  directly  under  our  eye,  if  we  go  on  to  con- 
sider the  practical  influence  of  Theism. 

It  has  been  usual  for  leading  unbelievers  to  con- 
fess the  excellent  moral  tendency  of  the  doctrine  of  a 
righteous  Divine  Ruler.  And  ask  any  man  of  ordi- 
nary sense  and  observation,  putting  him  on  his  honor 


INFLUENCE  OF  FAITH.  209 

and  conscience  to  speak  frankly  —  ask  him  whether 
he  does  not  really  think  that  a  solid  faith  in  such  a 
Being  would,  on  the  whole,  be  a  greatly  better 
thing  for  his  son  and  all  connected  with  him  than 
disbelief  or  unbelief  would  be — what  would  be  the 
answer?  He  might  not  speak  it,  but  ere  a  mo- 
ment could  elapse  he  would  think  it.  "Practi- 
cally," would  he  say  to  himself,  "  it  is  better  that 
my  child  should  believe.  Whatever  may  be  the 
abstract  truth  in  the  case,  I  cannot  deny  that 
'such  a  belief  is  likely  to  be  followed  by  better  re- 
sults to  himself  and  to  all  within  his  sphere  of  in- 
fluence than  the  absence  of  that  belief."  And 
could  the  ideas  —  perhaps  exceedingly  vague, 
fragmental,  and  disordered  —  which  form  his  rea- 
sons for  this  view  be  formally  drawn  out  and  ex- 
pressed, they  might  be  found  stated  somewhat  as  fol- 
lows :  —  "  Character  is  the  great  interest  of  a  man. 
An  unprincipled  and  wicked  life  is  low,  disgraceful, 
and  destructive.  And  it  does  not  admit  of  reason- 
able question  that  those  believing  in  a  righteous 
Divine  Ruler  —  that  is,  all  who  believe  in  God  at 
all  —  are  under  stronger  moral  restraints  than 
others;  that  the  more  profoundly  society  is  im- 
pressed with  the  conviction  of  an  Infinite  One  above 
it  who  loves  righteousness  and  hates  iniquity,  and 
will  without  fail  hold  men  to  account  for  their  con- 
duct and  the  secret  evil  of  their  hearts,  the  more 
orderly  and  virtuous  it  will  be.  The  bare  presence 
to  the  mind  of  such  an  idea  —  of  an  idea  so  majes- 

14 


210  SEVENTH  LECTURE. 

tic  and  pure,  so  grand  and  lofty  and  thrilling,  as 
that  of  a  God  actually  living  and  reigning,  never 
beginning  and  never  ending,  knowing  virtually  all 
things  and  powerful  to  do  virtually  all  things, 
true  and  just  and  good  in  the  highest  conceiv- 
able degree,  having  for  His  sweet  name  Un- 
fathomable and  Shoreless  Love  —  must  tend  pow- 
erfully to  educate  the  moral  sense ;  to  expand,  ele- 
vate, and  purify  the  soul.  It  can  be  nothing  less 
than  one  of  the  greatest  of  moral  cultivators. 
And,  besides  its  power  as  a  great  and  pure  idea, 
the  conception  of  God  as  an  actual  existence  must 
have  vast  power  to  restrain  from  evil  and  encourage 
to  good  by  the  strong  appeals  it  makes  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  hope  and  fear.  A  sinner  cannot  steadily 
look  at  the  thought  of  a  just  God  without  trembling  ; 
and  even  a  shadowy  impression  of  such  a  Being 
leaves  a  voice  in  the  heart  which  says, '  Be  warned : 
if  you  are  wise,  you  will  cease  to  do  evil.'  A  good 
man  cannot  hold  steadily  before  him  the  thought 
of  an  Infinite  Being  taking  account  of  every  right 
act  and  rejoicing  over  it,  without  brightly  hoping : 
and  even  a  vague,  embryonic  impression  of  such  a 
Being  leaves  words  in  the  heart  which  say, '  Blessed 
be  thou  of  the  Lord  ;  go  on  and  prosper.'  The  one 
is  restrained,  and  the  other  is  encouraged  —  greatly 
and  necessarily.  Without  such  restraint  and  encour- 
agement, the  water-line  of  morals  in  this  world 
would  be  far  below  its  present  level.  Why,  con- 
sider what  a  God  this  is  who  men  say  reigns  in 


INFLUENCE  OF  FAITH.  211 

glory  and  righteousness  everlasting ;  and  is  he  to 
whom  this  mighty  Personality  is  a  solemn  reality 
under  no  greater  pressure  to  virtue  than  he  to 
whom  such  a  Being  is  a  fable  or  an  uncertainty  ? 
Sure  we  are  that  there  are  few  thoughtful  men 
who  would  be  so  unreasonable  as  to  think  it.  As 
well  almost  might  they  think  that  objects  on  the 
surface  of  the  earth  are  just  as  likely  to  fly  off 
from  it  with  as  without  the  gigantic  forces  of 
gravitation  steadily  drawing  from  all  points  toward 
the  center.  No:  from  every  point  of  view  the 
natural  tendency  of  faith  in  such  a  God  is  toward 
virtue,  toward  virtue  only,  toward  virtue  vastly. 
And  though  it  is  true  that  moral  beings,  from  their 
very  nature,  are  competent  to  so  resist  this  natural 
tendency  as  to  make  it  the  source  of  increased 
guilt  and  misery,  and  often  do  so,  yet  in  the  ma- 
jority of  cases  it  will  not  be  done.  The  more  faith, 
the  more  motive  against  sin ;  the  more  motive 
against  sin  a  man  has,  the  more  likely  he  is  to  re- 
strain it ;  and,  if  the  individual  is  more  likely  to 
restrain  it,  the  community  at  large  will  actually  re- 
strain it  better.  Men  universally  act  on  the  prin- 
ciple that  if  they  can  make  persons  believe  vividly 
that  it  is  their  interest  to  take  a  certain  course,  the 
effect  in  that  direction  will  be  favorable  in  a  major- 
ity of  cases.  These  rational  deductions  are  con- 
firmed by  observation.  Comparing  together  large 
communities,  one  observes  that  those  are  the  most 
orderly  and  moral  in  which  faith  in  a  righteous 


212  SEVENTH  LECTURE. 

Divine  Governor  prevails  to  the  greatest  extent. 
We  have  on  record  only  one  instance  of  a  nation  of 
atheists ;  and  what  a  frightful  state  of  disorder,  de- 
moralization, and  terror  accompanied  the  phenome- 
non, the  world,  and  especially  Paris,  will  not  soon 
forget.  Milton's  description  of  Sin  is  not  too  strong 
to  suit  atheistic  France  of  the  Revolution: 

'  Seemed  woman  to  the  waist,  and  fair, 
But  ended  foul  in  many  a  scaly  fold 
Voluminous  and  vast,  a  serpent  arni'd 
With  mortal  sting :  about  her  middle  round 
A  cry  of  hell-hounds  never  ceasing  barked 
With  wide  Cerberian  mouths  full  loud,  and  rung 
A  hideous  peal.' 

No  civilized  people  ever  gave  so  bloody  and  foul  a 
chapter  to  history.  May  history  never-  receive  such 
another !  Further,  it  is  observable  that  individuals 
with  habitually  very  vivid  and  strong  Theistic  faith 
are  almost,  if  not  quite,  always  veiy  virtuous ;  cer- 
tainly very  much  more  free  from  misconduct  than 
other  persons.  Nearly  all  positive  rejecters  of  God, 
and  indeed  nearly  all  professed  skeptics  as  to  Him, 
known  to  the  reading  public,  have  been  public  lep- 
ers both  as  to  the  principles  and  practice  of  common 
morals  —  have  fought  against,  not  only  the  doctrine 
of  a  God,  but  also  the  doctrine  of  moral  distinctions 
and  all  the  ten  commandments,  both  with  their  pens 
and  with  their  lives." 

So  might  soliloquize  almost  any  intelligent  father. 
On  the  basis  of  mere  broken  hints  of  such  facts 
he  might  well  desire  faith  for  his  child.  Which  the 


INFLUENCE  OF  FAITH.  213 

more  friendly  to  virtue,  faith  or  its  absence  —  how 
can  he  for  a  moment  be  at  a  loss  how  to  answer  the 
question  ?  There  can  be  no  comparison  between 
the  two.  As  motive  to  virtue  one  is  everything,  and 
the  other  nothing.  On  the  one  hand  you  have  a 
giant  statured  like  the  demigods  of  fable,  clothed 
in  prodigious  sinew  and  brawn,  and  making  the 
earth  and  its  starry  dome  to  shake  at  every  step  — 
such  a  giant  pushing  us  toward  all  open  and  secret 
righteousness  with  might  and  main.  On  the  other 
hand  you  have  a  pigmy  asthmatic  skeleton,  scarce 
able  to  stand  or  breathe  alone,  laying  on  us  the 
feathery  touch  of  a  single  skinny  finger,  which,  ten 
to  one,  is  not  noticed  by  us  at  all,  save  as  a  chill  or 
a  paralysis  on  all  virtuous  endeavor.  Sure  we  are 
that,  instead  of  giving  the  smallest  pressure  in  the 
right  direction,  it  rather  goes  to  chill  off  the  soul  as 
with  the  damps  of  the  grave  from  all  excellent  ac- 
tivities. When  we  see  that  for  the  leaders  in  unbe- 
lief to  discard  God  is  generally  to  cast  off  right- 
eousness, lose  conscience,  and  unlearn  the  very 
theory  of  obligation  —  when,  in  the  only  example 
the  world  has  ever  seen  of  organized  atheism,  we 
see  it  shaking  society  like  an  earthquake,  and 
crushing  alike  the  sanctities  of  home,  the  rights  of 
the  citizen,  and  the  authority  of  law  —  when  we 
consider  the  instincts  of  parents,  the  confessions  of 
atheistic  apostles,  and  the  very  nature  of  the  case, 
it  is  impossible  to  give  any  but  the  most  gloomy 
account  of  the  practical  influence  of  any  system  of 


214  SEVENTH  LECTURE. 

living  which  does  not  positively  recognize  a  Divine 
government.  Strike  out  the  present  almost  uni- 
versal idea  of  such  a  government,  and  we  are  bound 
to  believe  that  the  present  level  of  morals  in  the 
world  would  sink  with  startling  swiftness  and  pro- 
digious ebb  so  as  to  show  the  very  central  sands. 
If  some  misanthrope  would  turn  the  world  into 
such  a  state  that,  in  comparison  with  it,  the  present 
state  should  be  an  Eden-garden,  let  him  find  some 
way  to  extinguish  from  the  world  all  belief  or  sus- 
picion of  a  Divine  existence.  This  would  bring 
upon  us  the  briers  and  thorns  of  the  wilderness  as 
nothing  else  would.  If  any  father  wishes  to  bring 
up  his  family  to  be  impetuous  and  bold  for  every 
folly  and  for  every  crime,  ready  to  trample  on  all 
civil  and  social  and  filial  duties  ;  sad  tempests  and 
plagues  always  and  everywhere  —  then  let  him 
bring  them  up  to  think  that  there  is  no  God  above 
to  watch  and  deal  with  them  according  to  their 
works.  In  a  word,  Theism  is  the  salt  of  the  world. 
We  should  be  nothing  but  a  putrefying  corpse 
without  it.  And,  on  the  other  hand,  should  all 
men  come  to  believe  in  God  as  they  believe  in 
the  oceans  and  mountains  —  as  vividly  and  pro- 
foundly —  the  world  would  become  a  beautiful 
life,  and  its  present  faded  and  hectic  cheek  would 
so  nobly  round  and  flush  with  virtue's  health  that 
one  would  hardly  recognize  it. 

Thus  faith  in  God  is  greatly  favorable  to  virtue. 
Being  so,  it  is  greatly  favorable  to  happiness  here 


INFLUENCE  OF  FAITH.  215 

and  to  prospects  of  it  hereafter.  Let  one  consult 
the  general  admission  of  mankind  ;  let  him  consult 
his  own  experience  and  observation  ;  let  him  con- 
sult the  very  definition  of  virtue,  which  includes 
the  idea  of  acting  in  harmony  with  the  nature  of 
things ;  and  he  must  feel  that  the  happiness  of  a 
man  in  this  world  depends  more  on  his  relation  to 
virtue  than  on  all  other  things  put  together.  Be- 
yond a  doubt,  goodness  is  the  great  sunshine- maker. 
There  is  a  world  of  poetry  and  of  truth  —  and  not 
more  of  one  than  of  the  other — in  that  antique 
phrase,  Sun  of  Righteousness.  The  kind  of  pleas- 
ure virtue  gives  is  incomparably  more  pure,  pene- 
trating, lasting,  and  elevated  than  any  other.  It  is 
sweet  as  the  ambrosia  and  nectar  of  the  gods.  It 
can  make  a  little  heaven  in  the  absence  of  all  things 
else  :  all  things  else  leave  us  but  an  empty  and 
pricking  satisfaction  without  it.  It  gives  a  quiet 
conscience,  governed  passions,  benevolent  affections, 
concord  with  natural  laws,  and  generally  sublime 
hopes.  While  leaving  us  as  fair  candidates  as  others 
for  all  forms  of  worldly  good,  it  doubles  our  faculty 
for  enjoying  them :  while  leaving  us  to  no  more 
and  greater  trials  than  befall  others,  it  provides  us 
with  sevenfold  consolations  under  them.  Virtue 
does  indeed  forbid  us  certain  pleasures.  It  will  not 
allow  us  to  drink  of  everything  that  goes  by  that 
much  abused  name,  or  that  really  gives  much  pres- 
errt  gratification  —  perhaps  foamy,  passionate,  incar- 
nadined Falernian.  But  the  gratifications  which 


216  SEVENTH  LECTURE. 

virtue  refuses  are  well  known  to  leave  behind  them 
so  many  bitter  tastes  and  pains  as  to  make  them,  on 
the  whole  scheme  of  life,  sorrows.  Our  interest  of 
earthly  happiness  ought  to  thank  virtue  for  cutting 
us  off  from  such  apples  of  Sodom  and  grapes  of 
Gomorrah.  —  And  is  there  another  life  beyond  this  ? 
If  so,  the  virtuous  man  stands  by  far  the  best  chance 
in  regard  to  it.  Should  a  Holy  Governing  God 
prove  real,  such  a  man  must  be  saved  and  glorified ; 
should  He  prove  but  an  empty  name,  such  a  man 
can  hardly  be  worse  off  than  his  un virtuous 
neighbor.  Who  believes  that,  Christendom  being 
searched  through,  a  single  intelligent  man  could  be 
found,  who,  looking  merely  at  the  chances  for  safety 
and  happiness  after  death,  had  not  rather  live  and 
die  as  a  good  man  than  as  a  bad  one  ?  Every  per- 
son is  absolutely  certain  that  his  future  state  would 
not  be  prejudiced  by  a  virtuous  character  and  ca- 
reer ;  and  he  is  not  certain  but  that  it  would  be 
ruined  by  the  want  of  these. 

Then,  as  to  the  bearing  of  virtue  on  the  useful- 
ness of  a  man.  When  we  say  that  a  certain  man 
is  virtuous,  we  in  effect  say  that  he  habitually  dis- 
charges what  seem  to  him  his  duties  in  all  direc- 
tions. He  stands  nobly  pledged  to  his  family,  to 
his  neighbors,  to  his  countrymen,  to  his  race,  and 
even  to  brute  and  inanimate  nature.  We  may  be 
sure  of  his  being,  in  the  main  and  according  to  his 
light,  a  good  son,  brother,  father,  employer,  servant, 
citizen,  ruler,  subject.  Even  the  beasts  and  herbs  of 


PRACTICAL  INFLUENCE  OF  FAITH.        217 

the  field  shall  be  the  better  and  thriftier  for  him. 
The  very  nature,  as  well  as  the  history  of  virtue 
assures  all  this.  On  the  other  hand,  the  unright- 
eousness which  atheism  fosters  assures  nothing  of 
the  sort.  It  leaves  the  way  open  for  every  sort 
and  degree  of  trespass  on  the  interests  of  others. 
A  man  may  plague  his  friends,  and  curse  his  neigh- 
borhood, and  betray  his  country  —  may  belch  out 
corruptions  and  injuries  of  every  name  on  all  around 
him  as  stormily  and  profusely  as  ever  did  volcano 
its  destructive  ashes  and  lava  —  and  still  be  a  capi- 
tal atheist.  If  he  chooses  to  commit  the  grossest 
possible  outrage  on  society,  and  then  assert  that  he 
does  not  believe  in  God,  we  cannot  say  that  his  as- 
sertion and  his  deed  are  mutually  inconsistent.  Go 
to  that  man  in  prison  on  charge  of  having  murdered 
his  own  loving,  self-sacrificing,  and  beseeching 
mother.  Say  to  him,  "  Man,  what  think  you  about 
this  matter  of  a  God?  "  "  Think!  "  he  shall  say, 
"  why  I  don't  believe  in  Him  —  there  is  no  such 
Being."  Would  such  an  answer  go  to  strengthen 
any  lurking  idea  of  his  innocence  which  you  may 
entertain  ?  Would  you  feel  like  grasping  his  hand, 
and  exclaiming,  "  My  dear  sir,  it  must  be  that  you 
have  been  unjustly  accused !  You  a  matricide ! 
You  an  atheist,  and  yet  do  such  a  crime !  You 
honestly  convinced  that  there  is  no  God  to  bring 
the  wicked  to  account,  and  yet  lift  murdering  hand 
on  your  own  mother !  Incredible !  The  friends 
of  justice  must  at  once  look  to  your  liberation." 


218  SEVENTH  LECTURE. 

* 

How  preposterous  such  language  would  sound  to 
even  the  prisoner  himself!  He  would  think  you 
dealing  in  severest  irony.  He  knows,  and  is  sure 
that  everybody  knows,  that  the  loss  of  that  faith 
which  he  had  when  a  boy  has  done  nothing  for  him 
morally,  and  could  do  nothing  whatever,  save  to 
mightily  lift  the  checks  from  his  depravity.  He 
knows,  and  is  sure  that  everybody  knows,  that  god- 
lessness  is  just  the  thing  from  which  to  expect  all 
sorts  of  harmful  outgoings  on  the  world  around  — 
from  men  down  to  the  dog  that  crouches  at  his  feet, 
and  to  the  sapling  that  stands  fearing  the  wasteful 
axe. 

For  the  full  scientific  significance  of  these  facts 
we  must  wait  a  little.  After  gathering  some  further 
particulars  of  the  same  general  character,  we  will 
proceed  to  question  science  in  regard  to  the  value 
of  the  whole.  But  I  will  ask  you  to  just  notice  in 
passing  that,  in  case  there  is  a  righteous  Divine 
Ruler,  this  immense  utility  to  great  classes  of  be- 
ings of  faith  in  Him  is  just  what  we  ought  to  find. 
He  would  be  likely  to  make  a  system  to  which  He 
should  be  the  necessary  complement ;  a  system 
which  should  perpetually  call  for  Him ;  a  system 
which  should  find  its  highest  repose,  satisfaction,  and 
uses  of  all  sorts  in  a  cordial  recognition  of  Him. 
But,  without  a  God,  the  fact  would  not  be  positively 
likely  to  be  as  we  find  it:  on  the  contrary,  it  would 
be  positively  improbable.  Is  it  not  matter  of  uni- 
versal admission  that  it  is  in  general  best  for  even 


PRACTICAL  INFLUENCE  OF  FAITH.        219 

the  individual  to  avoid  error,  that  generally  it  is 
best  for  him  to  see  things  as  they  are  ?  Much  more 
sure  is  the  doctrine  —  much  more  does  it  square 
with  the  convictions,  experience,  and  proceedings 
of  mankind,  that  for  a  whole  class  it  is  substantially 
never  better  to  believe,  especially  permanently,  in 
a  falsehood  than  in  the  conflicting  truth.  Indeed, 
I  am  confident  that  not  a  single  instance  of  the 
kind  can  be  discovered  by  any  amount  of  research. 
And  if  the  class  in  question  be  the  whole  race  of 
men,  then  indeed  it  can  be  concisely  proved  that 
such  an  instance  is  impossible  —  there  cannot  be  an 
instance  of  universal  faith  in  a  falsehood  proving 
vastly  more  serviceable  to  the  public  than  faith  in 
the  opposed  truth.  If  it  is  extremely  desirable,  all 
things  considered,  that  men  at  large  should  hold  to 
a  given  error,  then  true  benevolence  requires  you 
to  promote  that  false  belief  in  yourself  and  others 
to  the  extent  of  your  ability — no  matter  though  at 
the  outset  you  know  it  to  be  unwarranted  by  facts. 
This  being  so,  unless  there  is  generic  antagonism 
between  the  dictates  of  general  benevolence  and 
those  of  duty,  between  a  useful  course  of  conduct 
and  a  righteous  one  —  which  is  allowed  by  no  cred- 
ible and  tolerable  theory  of  morals  —  it  is  your  duty 
to  abuse  your  reason,  to  make  and  love  a  lie,  to 
employ  prejudices  and  sophisms  and  all  sorts  of  in- 
tellectual trickery  to  impose  on  yourself  and  others. 
Samson  must  put  out  his  own  eyes  and  those  of  all 
Israel  besides.  Who  believes  this  ?  Are  we  pre- 


220  SEVENTH  LECTURE. 

pared  to  give  up  the  most  instinctive,  universally 
received,  and  fundamental  principles  of  morals  ? 
If  in  any  one  case  it  is  not  merely  right,  but  a  posi- 
tive duty,  to  practice  such  moral  jugglery,  then 
there  is  no  radical  and  inherent  distinction  between 
right  and  wrong,  and  one  may  carry  his  principles 
along  with  his  crops  to  market  without  compunc- 
tion, or  run  them  up  for  his  amusement  to  the  side 
of  some  highest  vane,  to  bear  it  company  as  it  turns 
easily  by  a  breath  to  every  point  of  the  compass. 
The  doctrine  is  simply  abominable.  Get  thee  hence, 
Satan  !  Any  campanile  would  be  dishonored  by 
such  a  weather-cock.  One  cannot  persuade  the 
human  mind  to  accept  falsehood  as  true  on  good 
grounds.  Just  arguments  never  prove  an  error. 
Natural,  judicious,  and  honest  processes  of  thought 
have  no  tendency  to  carry  us  to  wrong  conclusions. 
If  one  manages  to  escape  the  grasp  of  known  truth, 
it  must  be  by  pettifoggings,  cheats,  treacheries,  false 
swearings  against  his  own  reason  and  conscience  — 
it  must  be  by  shameful  twistings,  turnings,  doub- 
lings, and  even  metamorphoses  of  his  better  nature. 
Behold  the  struggling  Proteus !  At  last  the  god 
becomes  a  swine.  Is  it  his  duty  to  do  this  ?  Is  he 
at  liberty  to  do  it  ?  How  dare  he  so  debase  his 
divinity  ?  How  can  he  help  despising  his  ugly  self 
wallowing  in  that  sty  ?  Avaunt  Proteus,  Machia- 
velli,  Mephistophiles  —  we  will  have  none  of  you  ! 
Away  with  such  repulsive  and  destructive  princi- 
ples —  on  the  point  of  the  longest  and  most  non- 


PRACTICAL  INFLUENCE   OF  FAITH.        221 

conducting  of  spears !     It  is  as  if  one  had  grasped 
the  battery  of  a  torpedo ! 

But  —  theory  apart  —  a  bad  practical  influence 
is  a  noted  characteristic  of  falsehood.  I  do  not  say 
there  may  not  be  seeming  exceptions.  But  I  do 
say,  that,  in  general,  it  is  unfavorable  to  our  inter- 
ests to  believe  a  falsehood,  or  to  fail  to  believe  the 
truth.  Otherwise,  to  say  the  least,  we  might  as 
well  have  one  opinion  as  another ;  mistake  would 
be  as  likely  to  be  serviceable  as  just  views  ;  and  all 
pains  to  investigate  would  be  foolish  —  a  thing  that 
nobody  believes,  and  the  contrary  of  which  every- 
body assumes  in  the  affairs  of  actual  life.  Witness, 
ye  sciences  —  sweating  away  at  your  observation 
and  experiment  and  induction!  Witness,  ye  arts 
and  trades  —  straining  away  at  the  toil  of  in- 
ventors and  adapters  of  inventions!  Witness,  ye 
sagacious  business  men  of  every  name  —  knitting 
your  questioning,  forecasting,  anxious  brows  over 
ledgers,  markets,  products  !  What  mean  ye  all  — 
unless  it  be  that  knowledge  is  better  than  igno- 
rance ;  that  facts  are  the  mine  out  of  which  men  are 
to  dig  their  prosperity ;  that  he  who  best  knows 
things  as  they  are,  and  best  adjusts  his  conduct  to 
them,  has  advantage  over  every  competitor  ?  This 
is  what  all  this  circumspect  and  thougntful  activity 
of  the  world  means.  And  means  wisely.  For  this 
is  only  saying  that  the  engineer  who  lays  out  his 
road  across  the  continent  after  copious  and  careful 
surveys,  and  with  eyes  wide  open  on  the  correlations 


222  SEVENTH  LECTURE. 

of  hill  and  valley  and  marsh  and  river,  will  snrely 
do  better  by  his  company  than  if  he  had  gone  blind- 
folded to  his  work ;  that  the  sailor  who,  with  alert 
hand  on  the  wheel,  watches  closely  compass  and 
chart  and  sea  and  sky,  will  be  more  likely  to  make 
a  prosperous  voyage  than  if  he  had  chosen  to 
sleep  or  to  be  drunken  ;  that  a  blind  traveller  who 
paces  at  random  about  Switzerland  is  more  likely  to 
come  to  harm  than  if,  with  eye  like  a  sunbeam,  he 
were  carefully  noting  every  step  he  took  among  the 
torrents  and  glaciers  and  chasms  and  terrible  preci- 
pices. Civilization  is  better  than  barbarism.  The 
Nineteenth  Century  is  better  than  the  Age  of 
Bronze.  The  United  States  are  better  than  Da- 
homey. And  that  truth,  secular  and  religious,  out 
of  the  acquisition  and  use  of  which  all  this  mighty 
difference  has  slowly  grown,  is  very  profitable  truth. 
So  generic  utility  as  a  trait  of  truth,  and  generic 
hurtfulness  as  a  trait  of  error,  stand  demonstrated 
on  an  immense  scale  in  the  history  of  the  world. 
The  conduct  of  the  world  admits  it,  the  experience 
of  the  world  proves  it,  the  very  foundations  of  mo- 
rality demand  it.  And  when  we  find  the  Doctrine 
of  God  with  this  bright  distinction  shining  on  its 
breast,  like  the  jeweled  star  that  betokens  an  em- 
peror ;  when  we  find  it  so  radically  and  vastly  use- 
ful to  the  virtue,  happiness,  and  usefulness  of  the 
broad  class  of  men,  and  so  to  the  welfare  of  all  the 
dependent  animal  races  with  their  still  broader  do- 
main —  our  heads  instinctively  sink  upon  our  breasts, 


DIRECT  DIVINE  ACTION.  223 

and  we  do  homage  as  in  the  august  presence  of  that 
unchallenged  sovereign  whose  name  is  Truth. 

I  pass  to  another  point.  The  polarities  of  good 
men  point  toward  a  great  need  of  God.  The  prac- 
tical influence  of  Theism  places  that  need  actually 
under  our  eye  somewhat  in  detail.  A  consideration 
of  the  effects  of  a  direct  Divine  action  on  the  uni- 
verse will  manifest  the  need  still  more  fully  and 
impressively.  This  will  show  great  Rome  from  the 
summit  of  the  Capitoline.  The  distant  guide-boards 
of  the  Appian  have  reliably  pointed  us  toward  the 
city.  Coming  to  the  gate,  we  have  caught  partial 
views  of  the  interior.  And  now,  at  last  arrived  at 
the  city-heart  and  perched  far  above  Rock  Tar- 
peian,  we  proceed  for  a  moment  to  take  the  supreme 
view.  All  the  monuments  are  before  us.  On  the 
one  hand  is  the  old  city,  with  its  arches  and  tem- 
ples and  Coliseum  of  the  mighty  past ;  on  the  other 
is  the  new  city,  with  its  palaces  and  basilicas  and 
Vatican  of  the  mightier  present.  The  most  impres- 
sive sight  of  all ! 

Conceive  of  a  direct  Divine  action  on  the  uni- 
verse. Hardly  anything  can  be  surer  than  that 
such  action  cannot  be  the  slightest  harm  to  the  gen- 
eral interest  of  the  system,  but  must,  on  the  con- 
trary, promote  that  interest  infinitely  by  force  of 
infinite  faculties  acting  through  infinite  years. 
With  One  standing  at  the  wheel  who  can  at  a 
glance  see  through  the  whole  system  as  related  to 
both  space  and  duration  ;  who  out  of  a  loving  heart 


224  SEVENTH  LECTURE. 

wants  to  make  out  of  that  vast  empire  the  best  He 
can,  and  who  can  on  occasion  instantaneously  and 
forever  send  out  to  its  remotest  extremities  the  help 
of  resources  virtually  immeasurable ;  and  who  is 
actually  counteracting,  guiding,  propelling  every- 
where in  all  that  stupendous  sovereignty  —  enlight- 
ening ignorance,  comforting  sorrow,  restraining  sin, 
stimulating  holiness,  forcing  brute  energies  and  ele- 
ments along  their  appropriate  channels  by  an  over- 
mastering omnipotence  —  with  such  a  Being  the 
system  of  Nature  as  a  whole  is  sure  to  reach,  not 
only  the  highest  destiny  in  the  nature  of  things  pos- 
sible, but  also  one  infinitely  in  advance  of  what 
would  have  been  realized  without  Him.  Individ- 
ual interests  found  in  irreconcilable  conflict  with  the 
general  interest  will  have  to  suffer ;  but  the  general 
interest  itself,  in  all  its  huge  proportions,  will  stead- 
ily have  the  benefit  of  a  still  huger  wisdom  and 
power  working  endlessly  in  its  behalf.  And  this 
will  be  an  immeasurable  benefit. 

According  to  the  doctrine  of  chances  it  is  morally 
certain  that  without  a  God  the  issue  of  the  universe 
will  not  be  the  best  possible.  Further,  without  a 
God  there  are  as  many  chances  of  the  issue  being 
bad  as  of  its  being  good.  Still  further,  it  is  possible 
that  the  issue  will  be  calamitous  beyond  expression. 
On  the  ground  of  no  presiding  Deity  wre  cannot 
venture  to  predict  the  last  or  balanced  result  of  any- 
thing. What  is  there  whose  history  we  can  follow 
through  all  the  intricate  workings  and  interwork- 


DIRECT  DIVINE  ACTION.  225 

ings  and  counter  workings  of  an  infinite  number  of 
independent  agencies  upon  it,  and  so  gather  up  its 
general  significance,  whether  fortunate  or  unfortu- 
nate, best  possible  or  worst  possible  ?  The  web  that 
is  being  woven  is  so  large,  and  such  myriads  of 
shuttles  shoot  before  our  eyes  in  as  many  different 
directions,  that  we  cannot  make  out  the  pattern. 
Here  we  see  a  bright  thread,  and  there  a  dark  one  : 
but  what  figure  will  come  out  in  the  end  no  mere 
looking  into  endless  mazes  will  tell  us.  But  give 
us  the  fact  that  there  is  an  infinitely  accomplished 
Being  at  the  head  of  the  universe,  and  we  can  see 
in  a  moment  what  sort  of  a  pattern,  with  its  parti- 
colored threads  and  swarming  shuttles,  the  great 
loom  of  existence  is  weaving.  Behold  tho  most  per- 
fect picture  the  case  admits  of !  Behold  a  tapestry 
Gobelin  whose  precious  threads  spell  out  the  sweet- 
ness of  celestial  landscapes  —  fit  hangings  for  the  pal- 
ace of  the  Eternal !  The  system  of  things  will  turn 
out  happily,  and  as  happily  as,  in  the  nature  of  things, 
it  possibly  can.  It  cannot  be  a  curse  or  a  failure,  as 
without  a  God  it  may  be.  It  must  be  a  positive  bless- 
ing, as  without  a  God  there  is  no  positive  probability 
of  its  being.  It  must  be  the  greatest  blessing  possi- 
ble, as  without  a  God  it  is  certain  not  to  be.  Nay, 
this  greatest  possible  blessing  must  be  an  infinite 
one,  as  without  a  God  it  is  certain  to  be  at  an  infinite 
remove  from  being.  The  perfect  goodness  of  God 
would  never  have  allowed  Him  to  bring  into  being 
a  system  out  of  which  He  could  not  extract  more 

15 


226  SEVENTH  LECTURE. 

good  than  hurt:  once  in  being,  that  system  cannot 
but  be  gloriously  advantaged  by  the  eternal  action 
upon  it  for  good  of  that  glorious  magazine  of  forces 
and  resources  of  which  His  name  is  the  magnificent 
cordon.  Such  forces  cannot  fail  of  effects  commen- 
surate with  themselves.  All  forces  actually  exerted 
on  an  object  are  effectual,  and  effectual  in  proportion 
to  their  degree.  If  they  fail  to  produce  a  positive 
movement  in  the  direction  in  which  they  act,  they 
at  least  destroy  so  much  force  in  the  opposite  direc- 
tion. Hence  the  resultant  of  a  God  on  the  well-be- 
ing of  the  universe  must  be  unspeakably  precious. 
The  difference  between  what  it  is  with  Him  and 
what  it  would  be  without  Him,  is  solid  infinity. 
The  two  are  as  far  apart  as  are  the  poles  of  Nature. 
Just  think  of  an  infinite  Being  working  with  unde- 
caying  diligence  through  everlasting  years  for  the 
best  good  of  His  universal  creatures — giving  to  the 
great  enterprise  all  the  wealth  of  His  loving  heart, 
all  the  resources  of  His  unbounded  intelligence, 
all  the  energies  of  His  almighty  arm  !  Is  it  in  the 
power  of  such  minds  as  ours  to  compute  the  value  of 
such  an  agency  as  this?  Astonished  Arithmetic  re- 
fuses to  undertake  the  problem.  She  refuses  even 
to  seriously  look  at  it.  What  have  her  puny  multi- 
plication tables  to  do  with  such  an  optimism  as  this  ? 
To  be  without  a  God  is  for  the  universe  to  suffer  an 
infinite  loss.  It  needs  Him  as  it  needs  to  escape  an 
infinite  evil.  Measureless  Need!  Where  is  the 
fathom-line  that  can  sound  it  —  where  the  ship  or 


DIRECT  DIVINE  ACTION.  227 

the  electricity  that  can  log  across  its  broad  expanses 
— where  the  aeronaut  or  the  telescope  even  that  can 
shoot  upward  to  the  foamy  crest  of  its  ground  swell  ? 

When  you  see  a'  little  orphan  child  —  weak, 
sickly,  willful,  destitute,  tempted  —  you  are  touched 
with  compassion.  How  much  he  needs  a  father ! 
How  much  he  needs  a  father  to  protect  him,  to  coun- 
sel him,  to  govern  him,  to  educate  him,  to  provide 
for  his  future  in  almost  every  respect !  Such  is  the 
spontaneous  feeling  of  every  kind  and  thoughtful 
man  as  he  sees  the  poor  boy  wandering  about  in  his 
rags,  able  to  do  little  or  nothing  for  himself,  full  of 
fears  and  ignorance,  beset  on  all  sides  with  great 
dangers  and  miseries,  prone  by  nature  to  almost 
every  kind  of  evil,  and  already  showing  the  begin- 
nings of  many  bad  habits  and  disorders  in  body  and 
mind.  How  much  he  needs  a  father  ! 

So  I  feel  when  I  look  about  on  the  fatherless 
world  which  atheism  presents  to  us.  Ah,  such  a 
world — let  no  one  tell  me  that  it  does  not  need  a 
God  !  It  is  weak  and  sickly ;  and  needs  a  strong 
Divine  arm  to  lean  upon,  a  strong  Divine  tender- 
ness to  nurse  and  shield  it.  It  is  a  world  in  rags, 
cold,  hungry,  thirsty,  wandering  about  without 
shelter  under  inclement  skies  ;  it  needs  a  Heavenly 
Father  to  care  for  it,  and  give  it  home  and  fireside 
and  raiment  and  daily  bread.  It  is  a  sorrowful 
world  —  it  needs  a  Heavenly  and  Omnipresent  Con- 
soler ;  a  world  full  of  temptations  and  dangers  —  it 
needs  a  Heavenly  and  Omnipresent  Protector ;  a 


228  SEVENTH  LECTURE. 

world  full  of  wrong  tendencies  and  actual  disorders, 
willful  and  wayward  and  corrupt  to  a  miracle  —  it 
needs  a  Wise,  Omnipotent,  and  yet  Pitiful  Heav- 
enly Governor;  a  world  full  of  ignorance  and 
error  —  it  needs  a  Heavenly  and  Omnipotent  Coun- 
selor and  Enlightener. 

From  what  now  is  in  this  world,  imagine  what 
would  be  in  all  worlds  were  Nature  thoroughly 
drained  of  a  Divine  existence  and  government. 
It  would  be  a  most  terrible  state  of  things.  My 
account  of  it  has  not  been  too  strong.  From  the 
nature  of  the  case  it  beggars  description.  An  Infi- 
nite Force  that  lays  itself  out  most  unsparingly  and 
wisely  and  eternally  for  the  best  good  of  Nature, 
could  not  be  subtracted  from  it  without  infinite 
damage.  It  could  not  be  added  to  it  without  infi- 

o 

nite  gain. 

We  are  now  to  ask  carefully  for  the  scientific 
import  of  this  Need  of  God. 

It  is  a  canon  of  modern  science  that  whatever 
is  needed  to  complement  a  race  of  beings  in  any 
constitutional  respect,  always  exists  somewhere,  or 
is  attainable.  Take,  for  example,  the  race  of  men. 
Whatever  is  needed  to  match  and  make  fully  avail- 
able any  of  our  natural  mechanisms,  faculties,  apti- 
tudes, traits,  so  that  there  may  be  no  waste  —  so 
that  we  may  have  the  full  benefit  of  such  powers 
as  normally  belong  to  us  —  whatever  is  needed  to 
do  this  always  exists,  or,  at  least,  can  be  made  to 
exist.  Thus  men  need  air.  They  need  it  to  turn 


TOTAL  SCIENTIFIC  IMPORT  229 

to  some  account  the  breathing  mechanism  of  their 
bodies.  Accordingly  air  exists.  —  Men  need  light. 
They  need  it  to  make  some  use  of  their  eyes. 
These  organs  were  as  good  as  thrown  away  with- 
out it.  Accordingly  light  exists.  —  Men  need  odors 
and  sounds.  They  need  them  to  turn  to  some 
account  the  organs  for  smelling  and  hearing.  Ac- 
cordingly odors  and  means  of  sound  exist.  —  Men 
need  food  and  heat.  They  need  these  things  to 
sustain  the  action  of  every  bodily  organ.  We 
might  as  well  not  have  the  organs  as  to  have  them 
frozen  and  strengthless.  They  would  be  sacri- 
ficed. Accordingly  heat  and  food  exist.  —  Men 
need  knowledge,  friendship,  government,  virtue. 
They  need  these  things  in  order  that  the  constitu- 
tional faculties  and  demands  for  them  which  human 
nature  possesses  may  not  be  quite  useless  and  worse 
than  useless.  We  should  be  wretched  with  noth- 
ing or  next  to  nothing  to  answer  to  these  hungry 
and  thirsty  parts  of  our  nature.  Accordingly  they 
do  not  hunger  and  thirst  in  vain.  There  is  knowl- 
edge to  be  acquired ;  love  to  be  given  and  taken ; 
government  to  restrain,  direct,  and  compose  the 
social  state ;  virtue  wherewith  to  exalt  and  felicitate 
ourselves.  —  In  short,  Nature  builds  no  reservoir 
which  she  does  not,  sooner  or  later,  use ;  forges  no 
tool  which  she  has  never  occasion  for.  She  is  self- 
congruous  and  self-fulfilling. 

Not  only  do  such  things  exist  as  are  needed  to 
prevent  an  entire  waste  of  any  constitutional  fac- 


230  SEVENTH  LECTURE. 

ulty  or  trait  of  mankind,  but  also  all  such  things 
as  are  needed  to  prevent  even  a  partial  waste  of  it. 
Nature  is  thrifty.  She  is  a  great  utilizer.  She 
abhors  waste  in  all  its  degrees.  She  gathers  up 
the  fragments  that  nothing  be  lost.  And  so  pro- 
vision is  made  for  the  full  use  of  everything  that 
really  belongs  to  our  nature.  The  best  condition 
of  each  part  is  made  possible.  A  pendulum  may 
describe  a  very  small  arc,  or  a  large  one,  or  a  whole 
semicircle.  An  eye  may  see  little,  or  much,  or  as 
much  as  belongs  to  an  eye  of  the  soundest  state 
and  wisest  culture.  It  is  this  last  measure  of  activ- 
ity and  use  that  Nature  provides  for.  She  sees  to 
it  that  every  part  of  human  nature  is  provided  with 
the  means  of  describing  its  full  semicircle.  For 
example.  Men  need  not  only  air,  light,  sound, 
odors,  food,  heat,  knowledge,  friendship,  govern- 
ment, virtue  —  without  which  certainly  constitu- 
tional traits  would  be  totally  unavailable  —  but 
they  also  need  certain  measures  and  varieties  of 
these  things  in  order  that  those  parts  of  our  nature 
to  which  they  have  respect  may  be  available  in  the 
fullest  degree  which  their  natures  allow.  Unless  the 
air  has  a  certain  density,  the  lungs  begin  to  labor. 
If  the  light  has  not  a  certain  tone  and  intensity, 
the  eye  is  more  or  less  crippled  in  its  performance. 
Unless  the  sounds  and  odors  are  tempered  and  va- 
ried to  a  certain  extent,  the  ear  and  nostril  cannot 
do  full  service.  Unless  we  have  a  variety  of  food 
and  certain  limits  of  temperature,  our  bodies  weaken 


TOTAL  SCIENTIFIC  IMPORT. 

throughout,  and  every  faculty  walks  with  trembling 
knees.  If  we  do  not  have  large  measures  and 
many  sorts  of  knowledge  and  friendship  and  vir- 
tue, the  most  possible  is  not  made  of  our  faculties 
for  these  things  —  we  are  not  suitably  fed  and 
equipped  for  the  best  experience  and  service  which 
our  powers  allow  —  the  oil  does  not  fill  the  capa- 
cious bowl,  the  wick  is  too  small  for  its  large  tube, 
and  accordingly  the  flame  flickers  on  the  high  silver 
socket  where  it  ought  to  burn  steadily,  and  the 
photosphere  is  pale  which  ought  to  be  flooded  with 
light.  Such  is  the  need.  Nature  has  provided 
accordingly.  That  density  of  air,  that  measure 
of  light,  that  variety  of  food,  that  range  of  knowl- 
edge and  friendship  and  virtue,  which  best  suits 
our  powers,  is  either  actual  or  attainable.  We 
find  that  if  much  change  is  made  in  either  of  these 
respects  we  at  once  begin  to  suffer.  Our  vitality 
abates.  The  system  becomes  depressed.  Strength 
ebbs  away  at  every  pore,  and  every  organ  gives 
sign  of  embarrassed  action-.  We  discover  that  our 
circumstances  stand  well  adjusted  to  our  natures. 
What  the  race  needs  to  best  utilize  its  various  fac- 
ilities the  race  has.  The  stature  of  the  supply 
matches  the  stature  of  the  demand.  Nature  builds 
no  reservoir  twrice  as  large  as  she  can  use  ;  nor  forges 
a  tool  twice  as  sharp  and  massive  as  she  has  occa- 
sion for.  She  is  self-congruous  and  self-fulfilling. 
These  are  a  few  examples  of  the  law  that  what- 
ever is  needed  to  turn  to  account,  and  even  the 


232  SEVENTH  LECTURE. 

fullest  account,  the  traits  normal  to  any  class  of  be- 
ings, exists  somewhere  or  is  attainable.  Of  course 
it  is  not  claimed  that  this  law  has  been  verified  by 
an  actual  examination  of  every  single  case  of  such 
need  in  even  a  single  department  of  great  Nature. 
But  it  is  claimed  that  so  extensive  an  examination 
of  particular  cases  has  been  made  as  to  put  the  law 
on  the  sure  footing  of  inductive  science.  We  have 
had  an  immense  experience.  And  all  our  experi- 
ence has  been  one  way.  It  has  been  to  the  effect 
that  Nature,  within  the  field  stated,  does  nothing 
by  halves.  She  does  not  stop  at  fractions  of  enter- 
prises. She  never  forsakes  a  part  till  it  becomes  a 
whole.  Her  works  are  often  a  process ;  not  sel- 
dom the  process  is  long ;  but  provision  is  always 
made  for  finishing  up  in  a  congruous  manner  what- 
ever she  has  undertaken.  Many  human  works  are 
finally  forsaken  at  various  stages  of  incompleteness 
—  schemes,  machines,  edifices,  books.  You  cannot 
infer  from  the  unfinished  tower  of  Cologne,  or  from 
the  unfurnished  niches  on  the  minster  of  Milan,  that 
it  ever  will  or  can  be  supplemented  into  complete- 
ness. Not  so  with  the  generic  works  of  Nature. 
She  is  no  Michael  Angelo  —  leaving  piles  of  unfin- 
ished productions.  She  is  no  Livy  —  certain  chap- 
ters given,  and  then  a  hopeless  "  Csetera  desunt." 
All  her  parts  bid  us  look  for  wholes.  Each  fraction 
of  hers  proclaims  that  its  integer  is  come  or  com- 
ing. Have  you  found  such  a  fraction  ?  Be  sure 
that  all  the  things  needed  to  round  it  out  into 


TOTAL  SCIENTIFIC  IMPORT.  238 

completeness  exist  somewhere,  either  in  esse  or  in 
posse  —  as  sure  as  you  are  when  you  see  the  red 
of  the  spectrum  that  its  complementary  colors  are 
not  far  distant  —  as  sure  as  you  are  when  you  see 
a  crescent  moon  that  the  rest  of  the  sphere  is  by 
its  side,  though  for  the  present  unilluminated. 
Look  more  closely,  and  perhaps  you  will  faintly  dis- 
cover the  old  moon  in  the  arms  of  the  new.  Look 
more  closely,  and  perhaps  you  will  discover  over 
against  yonder  organic  need  in  Nature  that  full 
supply  of  the  need  which  Nature  has  provided. 
But  whether  you  discover  it  or  not,  make  sure  that 
the  supply  exists  or  is  attainable.  Nature  does  not 
waste  herself.  She  has  no  fondness  for  throwing 
herself  away,  either  wholly  or  in  part.  If  you  find 
one  of  her  reservoirs,  make  sure  that  there  is  some- 
thing to  put  in  it,  and  as  much  as  it  will  hold ;  if 
you  find  one  of  her  tools,  make  sure  that  it  has 
something  to  do,  and  as  much  as  it  can  do  well.  So 
frugal  is  she  with  all  her  bountifulness  !  So  provi- 
dent is  she,  and  so  well  does  she  husband  her  re- 
sources !  So  good  and  careful  a  provider  is  she  — 
never  liable  to  be  reckoned  worse  than  an  infidel 
because  she  does  not  provide  for  her  own ! 

So  well  established  is  this  principle  in  our  ex- 
perience that  scientific  men  are  accustomed  to  as- 
sume it  and  build  on  it  without  ceremony  in  their 
investigations,  especially  in  physical  science.  As 
soon  as  they  discover  a  constitutional  physical  want 
of  any  natural  species,  they  at  once  receive  a  pow- 


234  SEVENTH  LECTURE. 

erful  suggestion  of  the  existence,  or  at  least  of 
the  attainability,  of  an  adequate  supply.  Nay,  they 
are  profoundly  convinced  of  such  existence  or  at- 
tainability, and  confidently  assume  it.  If  Cuvier 
finds  a  bone,  he  at  once  reconstructs  the  whole  ani- 
mal to  which  it  belongs,  and  tells  us  how  it  looked, 
and  what  its  habits  were  when  living.  How  ?  On 
the  observed  fact  that  whatever  is  needed  to  com- 
plement a  given  mechanism  in  Nature  and  enable 
it  to  be  turned  to  full  account,  at  least  in  a  natural 
class,  exists  or  has  existed.  He  does  not  speculate 
as  to  how  this  great  fact  came  to  be  ;  only  it  is  mat- 
ter of  plentiful  experience  that  it  is.  —  Mantell,  in 
digging  deeply  into  the  earth,  discovers  a  strange 
skeleton,  and  the  round  bony  sockets  where  once 
were  eyes.  "  This  class  of  animals,"  he  says, 
"  though  now  lying  five  hundred  feet  below  the 
surface,  once  had  life  above  ground."  "  And  how, 
my  dear  sir,  do  you  know  this  ?  "  "  Why,  do  you 
not  see  that  the  animal  had  eyes,  and  needed  to 
live  in  the  light  ?  "  The  philosopher  would  not  be 
confident  that  some  individual  of  the  class  did  not 
spend  all  its  days  in  darkness  underground ;  but  he 
is  sure  that  it  was  not  so  with  the  class  at  large. 
They  needed  life  in  the  light,  and  he  sets  it  down  as 
certain  that  they  had  it ;  and  not  a  naturalist  in 
Christendom  will  dream  of  disputing  him. — As  little 
will  Owen  be  disputed,  when,  on  finding  on  the 
surface  of  a  field  the  bony  frame  of  an  animal  which 
plainly  never  had  any  eyes  to  speak  of,  but  which 


TOTAL  SCIENTIFIC  IMPORT.  235 

had  feet  and  form  and  head  nicely  suited  to  living 
and  making  its  way  underground,  he  just  reverses 
the  former  assumption.  "  This  class  of  animals," 
he  says,  "  needed  life  below  the  surface ; "  and  on 
the  instant  he  takes  it  for  granted  that  the  life  which 
they  needed  they  had. — Miller  goes  far  inland,  and 
there,  on  the  top  of  a  mountain,  picks  up  the 
bleached  debris  of  a  bird  plainly  once  web-footed. 
This  class  of  birds  needed,  in  part  at  least,  a  life 
in  the  water ;  and  his  mind  at  once  rests  unwaver- 
ingly in  the  conclusion  that  at  the  time  when  they 
lived  a  water-life  was  accessible  to  them.  —  Or 
Sedgewick,  or  Dana,  or  Agassiz  finds  a  fossil  with 
both  herbivorous  and  carnivorous  organs :  only  to 
be  quite  sure  that  the  species  to  which  it  belonged, 
needing  both  flesh  and  herb  for  its  best  develop- 
ment, lived  in  times  when  both  flesh  and  herb  food 
could  be  obtained.  Or,  these  eminent  philoso- 
phers find  a  whole  formation  filled  with  fossil  plants 
and  animals  having  special  adaptations  to  an  am- 
phibious life,  needing  a  world  of  ponds  and  marshes, 
not  indeed  to  exist,  but  to  exist  after  their  most 
flourishing  manner:  only  to  feel  sure  that  those 
amphibians  by  structure  actually  lived  in  a  transi- 
tion period  when  the  world  of  waters  was  just 
giving  way  to  a  world  of  dry  land.  As  soon  as 
they  see  the  need,  they  believe  in  the  supply. 
And  from  east  to  west  of  the  scientific  world  there 
is  no  one  to  lift  up  a  single  sign  of  remonstrance. 
"  The  whole  earth  is  quiet,  there  is  none  that 


236  SEVENTH  LECTURE. 

moves  wing  or  opens  mouth  or  peeps."  It  is  uni- 
versally felt  that  this  is  sound  science  —  that  no 
sounder  is  to  be  had  in  all  the  Baconian  realm. 
And  so  on  to  a  vast  extent.  Behold  scientists 
perpetually  assuming  and  allowing  that  somehow 
supply  accompanies  the  generic  needs  of  Nature 
as  shadow  accompanies  substance  —  sometimes  be- 
fore it  and  sometimes  behind  it,  sometimes  near 
and  sometimes  considerably  removed,  sometimes 
easily  seen  and  sometimes  seen  with  difficulty  or 
not  at  all ;  but  always  existing,  as  surely  as  there 
is  always  more  or  less  light  on  the  earth  even  in  the 
darkest  night,  and  always  linked  to  its  counterpart 
substance  by  indissoluble  though  invisible  bonds ! 

Now,  this  conduct  in  men  of  science  does  not 
proceed  from  a  traditional  notion  of  a  wise  and 
good  God  who  will  do  nothing  by  halves  or  tan- 
talize his  creatures,  but  from  a  sense  of  what  is 
the  general  course  of  Nature.  It  is  observed  that 
somehow  Nature  has  a  way  of  finding  her  generic 
wants  supplied  —  that  is  the  whole  of  it.  It  is 
observed  that  somehow  her  parts  are  extremely 
apt  to  orb  themselves  out  into  w  holes  —  that  is  the 
whole  of  it.  It  is  observed,  and  profusely  observed, 
that  somehow  it  is  with  her  as  with  other  kind  and 
wealthy  mothers  ;  she  does  not  send  forth  her  chil- 
dren into  the  world  without  suitable  outfit  —  that  is 
the  whole  of  it.  This  is  the  secret  of  that  high  scien- 
tific confidence.  It  is  all  pure  observation  —  not  at 
all  traditional  theology.  Scientific  investigations  sel- 


TOTAL  SCIENTIFIC  IMPORT.  237 

dom  proceed  on  theological  grounds,  even  among 
religious  men.  Indeed,  it  has  long  been  estab- 
lished law  that  special  jealousy  be  used  to  prevent 
anything  of  the  kind.  Besides,  the  conduct  re- 
ferred to  is  as  general  among  those  who  never 
think  of  a  God  in  any  practical  connection  with 
their  employments  —  among  atheists  and  antithe- 
ists  who  are  carefully  and  zealously  on  the  watch 
against  any  tacit  assumption  of  the  general  Theistic 
tradition  —  as  among  others.  Even  as  the  great 
mass  of  farmers  and  merchants  and  other  men  of 
aifairs  never  go  behind  natural  agents  and  laws  in 
the  dealings  and  conceptions  of  their  business,  so 
with  the  investigators  of  Nature  as  a  class  —  they 
deal  exclusively  with  phenomena  and  natural 
causes.  They  see  on  all  hands  the  immense  ten- 
dency to  equilibrium.  They  see  how  the  streams 
and  straws  converge  on  every  vacant  spot.  They 
see  that  wherever  there  is  a  broad  organic  need 
thither  set  gulf-streams  and  trade-winds  freighted 
heavily  with  relief-ships.  They  see  that  where 
shines  the  Castor  of  a  demand  you  may  with  proper 
search  find  shining  over  against  it  the  twin  Pollux 
of  a  supply ;  and  that  where  night  appears  there 
appear  also  the  festival-keeping  stars.  They  see  — 
as  they  have  always  seen  from  the  time  when  they 
began  to  observe  Nature  at  all  —  that  she  has  a 
happy  faculty,  say  a  genius,  at  getting  her  loud 
calls  affirmatively  answered,  her  great  hungers 
and  thirsts  provided  for,  her  hungry  vacuums 


238  SEVENTH  LECTURE. 

charged  with  fitting  contents.  They  see  —  in 
short,  it  is  pure  sight  from  beginning  to  end.  Wit- 
ness almost  all  the  men  called  philosophers,  from 
Comte  upward.  And  from  Comte  upward,  the 
idea  of  a  Framer  of  Nature  who  is  far  too  wise 
to  frame  useless  things,  and  far  too  steady  to  His 
purpose  not  to  carry  thoroughly  through  whatever 
framing  He  has  began  —  this  idea  has  nothing  to 
do  with  prompting  the  general  philosophic  convic- 
tion that  the  great  polarities  of  Nature  are  every- 
where as  faithful  guides  to  explorers  as  when  boxed 
up  in  the  mariner's  compass  ;  and  that  when  we 
find  her  putting  up  at  some  corner  of  her  thorough- 
fares a  guide-board,  with  its  striking  index-hand 
and  great  capitals  saying  "  London  "  to  all  passers 
by,  we  may  assure  ourselves  that  London  exists  — 
more  especially  when  she  proceeds  to  plant  her 
own  person  by  that  prophetic  cross,  and  to  glare 
with  the  eye,  and  to  point  with  the  finger,  and  to 
nod  like  Olympian  Jove  in  the  same  direction, 
and  to  exclaim  "  London  "  in  every  civilized  speech 
and  with  a  voice  that  surges  against  the  stars. 

For  see  further.  Physicists,  on  purely  natural 
grounds,  not  only  give  unanimous  consent  to  the 
principle  that  in  their  field  Nature  has  an  invet- 
erate habit  of  getting  her  generic  needs  supplied, 
but  they  will,  on  the  same  grounds,  unanimously 
consent  to  a  certain  extension  of  the  principle  — 
namely,  the  larger  the  need,  the  greater  the  mo- 
mentum and  evidence  with  which  Nature  finds 


TOTAL  SCIENTIFIC  IMPORT.  239 

the  supply.  There  are  four  cases.  Sometimes 
a  need  is  intrinsically  larger  than  another  need. 
Sometimes  several  needs  point  at  and  demand  the 
same  object.  Sometimes  the  class  to  which  a  need 
belongs  is  broader  and  more  important  than  another 
class.  And  the  strongest  case  of  all  is  when  you 
have  a  combination  of  these  three  cases  into  a  fourth 
—  when  you  have  great  needs,  many  of  them,  and 
all  of  these  belonging  to  a  class  of  immense  breadth 
and  importance.  Then  the  aggregate  need  is  very 
great ;  and  the  supply  of  that  need  is  assured 
after  a  most  manifold  and  imperial  manner. 

Some  needs  are  intrinsically  greater  than  others. 
And  we  observe  that  it  is  after  the  spirit  and  man- 
ner of  Nature  to  give  the  most  heed  to  the  loudest 
call.  See  with  what  peculiar  care  she  guards  such 
vital  things  as  brain  and  heart  behind  their  bony 
ramparts !  Whatever  it  is  that  prompts  her  to 
provide  for  a  need  rather  than  for  a  no-need,  would 
prompt  her  to  provide  for  a  great  need  with  more 
care  than  for  a  small  one.  —  Sometimes  several  great 
needs  point  at  and  clamor  for  the  same  supply.  As 
we  have  seen,  each  of  these  is  evidence  of  the  ex- 
istence of  that  supply.  And  together  they  are  so 
many  independent  evidences  of  that  existence,  and 
form  an  an-gregate  need  of  the  largest  dimensions. 
The  manifold  call  is  extremely  loud  and  pressing. 
It  must  receive  a  correspondingly  great  attention 
from  Nature.  For  such  is  the  way  of  her  who  pro- 
vides for  a  need  rather  than  for  a  no-need,  and  for 


240  SEVENTH  LECTURE. 

a  great  need  rather  than  for  a  small  one.  —  Some 
classes,  each  having  several  great  needs,  are  more  ex- 
tensive and  important  than  others.  Make  sure  that 
the  same  notoriously  self-consistent  Nature  that  is 
everywhere  more  careful  of  a  heart  than  of  a  hair, 
of  wholes  than  of  parts,  of  classes  than  of  individ- 
uals, is  more  careful  of  great  classes  than  of  small 
ones.  And  if  the  class  that  clamors  for  a  certain 
supply  with  many  loud  mouths  is  enormously 
broader  than  another  class,  then  the  sure  testimony 
of  Nature  to  the  existence  of  the  supply  is  enormously 
louder  and  more  impressive.  It  is  the  voice  of  many 
waters.  It  is  the  concurring  affidavits  of  many  in- 
dependent witnesses,  each  of  which  swears  witli  a 
steady  and  determined  voice.  Hence,  if  we  find  all 
these  cases  combined  in  one  —  if  we  find  very  great 
needs  clamoring  for  a  supply,  and  many  such  needs 
all  shouting  for  the  same  supply,  and  these  all  be- 
longing to  a  class  of  beings  enormously  large  —  then 
we  have  a  threefold  assurance  of  the  intensest  and 
broadest  character  that  the  object  for  which  so  many 
brawny  hands  are  stretched  out,  and  so  many  brawny 
voices  call,  is  extant  or  attainable. 

For  example.  The  class  of  men  need  air.  This 
need  is  of  a  more  crying  and  imperative  kind  than 
that  for  air  of  standard  density  or  purity  ;  and  so 
Nature  is  more  careful  to  secure  the  former  than 
the  latter.  Also,  it  is  not  only  the  lungs  of  men 
that  imperatively  needs  air,  but  also  the  ear  and 
the  nostril  and  the  eye  and  the  skin  with  its 


TOTAL  SCIENTIFIC  IMPORT.  241 

adapted   pores  —  to  say  nothing  of   other   organs. 
Neither  of  these  can  be  turned  to  proper  account 
without  air.      So  it  is  a  chorus  of  loud  calls  that  is 
made  for  the  same  thing  :  and  the  whole  is  greatly 
more  loud  and  impressive  than  any  single  call  would 
be,    and    so    proportionally  surer   of    being   heard. 
Also,  each  call  is  an  independent  argument  for  the 
existence  of  the  supply.     Further,  it  is  not  the  class 
of  men  only  that  has  these  various  needs ;  but  the 
greatly  larger  class  of  living   beings — comprising 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  animal  and  vegetable  spe- 
cies,  each    on    the    average  more  numerous    than 
men.     All  these   would  be   sacrificed  without  air. 
This  exceeding  breadth  of  calling  Nature  gives  ex- 
ceeding volume  to  her  voice.     It  rolls  on  the  ear 
»like  tropical  thunders.     What  place  so  remote  as 
not  to  hear?     What  place  so  deaf?     And  every 
distinct    organic    species    that  helps    to  make   that 
great  invocation  is  a  distinct  proof  that  the   invo- 
cation is  not  in  vain.     Altogether,  the  proof  is  im- 
mensely cumulative.      It   convinces  like  noonday 
mathematics.     It  displays  more  cooperative  banners 
than  Homer  saw  marching  invincibly  on  Troy  ;  or 
than  Tasso  saw  waving  and  glinting  above  Godfrey 
and  his  embattled  Europe,  on  their  way  to  Jerusa- 
lem Delivered.     So  that  when  we  find  in  the  fossil 
realms  of  geology  an  immense  amount  and  variety 
of  plants    and  animals,  all    of   which  imperatively 
needed  air,  and  all  of  which  imperatively  needed  it 
for  many  purposes,  philosophers  feel  that  they  move 
16 


242  SEVENTH  LECTURE. 

a  million  strong  on  the  conclusion  that  when  those 
races  existed  air  existed  for  them.  They  would 
laugh  to  scorn  the  man  who  should  pretend  to 
doubt  whether  an  atmosphere  flooded  the  world 
in  the  Silurian  or  any  subsequent  age.  They 
feel  that  nothing  can  be  surer.  And  this,  although 
it  is  simply  an  inference  from  the  vast  need  of  air  — 
from  the  vast  and  varied  waste  that  would  be  im- 
plied in  case  no  air  existed. 

So  in  other  similar  cases.  Wherever  in  physics 
we  find  many  great  needs  calling  for  help  in  behalf 
of  a  prodigious  sweep  of  being,  we  have  an  anvil 
chorus  that  does  not  fail  of  being  heard.  It  com- 
mands like  an  emperor.  It  invokes  like  a  mighty 
magician.  It  dredges  the  whole  abyss  of  the  un- 
known for  an  answer,  as  with  Briarean  hands  ;  as 
a  river  is  dredged  for  some  lost  favorite  by  a  whole 
out-turning  population  ;  as  all  the  declinations  and 
ascensions  of  heaven  have  been  dredged  by  our 
later  Astronomy  for  hidden  planets  and  nebula?.  O 
Polypheme,  thou  hast  indeed  a  great  and  most  suc- 
cessful voice  !  How  the  shores  and  the  distant  hills 
and  the  far,  far  away  welkin  ring  as  thy  massive 
lips  part  skyward,  and  thy  huge  swollen  chest 
empties  itself  in  gales  and  torrents  and  cataracts 
of  sound  !  And  see  how  quickly  the  invoked  help 
swarms  to  his  aid !  Swart  forms  as  huge  as  his 
own,  great  voices  as  burly  and  earth -quaking  as  the 
voice  that  calls,  make  prompt  answer,  and  say,  Here 
we  are  !  The  Cyclopean  voice  has  found  out  the 
Cyclops. 


TOTAL  SCIENTIFIC  IMPORT.  243 

"  Clamorem  immensum  tollit,  quo  pontus  et  omnes 
Intremuere  undae,  penitusque  exterrita  tellus 
Italiae,  curvisque  immugiit  JEtna  cavernis. 
At  genus  e  sylvis  Cyclopura  et  montibus  altis 
Excitum  ruit  ad  portus  et  littora  complent." 

Such  is  an  uncontested  law  of  Nature.  Each  real 
need  of  a  natural  class  of  beings  has  over  against  it 
in  Nature  the  suitable  supply,  or  the  means  of 
it ;  and  the  greater  the  need,  the  greater  the  mo- 
mentum and  evidence  with  which  the  supply  is 
furnished.  We  have  seen  that  modern  science  is 
built  on  this  law  to  a  very  large  extent.  We  have 
seen  that  even  atheistic  explorers  of  Nature  would 
be  glad  to  build  any  amount  of  science  on  the  same 
foundation.  And  shall  any  complain  as  we  now 
proceed  to  build  upon  it  what  is  of  more  concern  to 
the  world  than  all  the  profane  science  that  ever  was 
taught  and  cried  up  to  the  third  heaven  of  fame  — 
even  though  it  unravels  the  tangled  mystery  of  the 
stars,  and  provides  all  the  dynamics  of  useful  in- 
dustry, and  probes  the  solid  earth  to  where  sleep  in 
their  stony  mausolea  the  secrets  of  her  genesis  and 
hoariest  history  —  I  mean  that  sacred  science,  the 
Doctrine  of  God  ! 

For  God  is  needed.  I  do  not  claim  that  He  is 
needed  to  keep  the  frame-work  of  Nature  —  its 
mountains,  plains,  and  seas  ;  its  plants,  brutes,  and 
men  —  from  promptly  falling  into  utter  nothingness  : 
nor  do  I  care  to  say  that  every  particle  of  order  and 
comfort  would  at  once  drop  out  of  the  system  were 
an  active  Divine  hand  withdrawn  from  beneath  it. 


244  SEVENTH  LECTURE. 

Still  God  is  a  necessity  to  the  universe.  Human 
nature  in  its  soundest  state  hungers  for  Him.  The 
race  at  large  needs  to  believe  in  Him.  The  total 
system  needs  to  have  Him  —  as  a  Providence  and 
Government.  Woe  to  the  morals  of  mankind  when 
faith  is  wholly  dead  !  Woe  to  the  happiness  and 
usefulness  and  all  true  greenness  of  mankind  when 
its  morals  have  gone  down  into  the  Potter's  Field 
where  faith  lies  scantily  buried  !  Woe  to  all  earthly 
Nature,  animal  and  vegetable  as  well,  when  the 
human  life  and  character  have  both  become  offen- 
sive corpses  !  Nay,  woe  to  the  universal  Cosmos 
when  it  has  no  God  to  guide  and  govern  it !  An 
infinite  evil  has  come  upon  it.  It  has  sustained  un- 
speakable loss.  For  suppose  God  to  be  dead.  He 
has  lived  and  wrought  and  governed  as  only  a  be- 
ing of  perfect  faculty  can,  through  amazing  aeons. 
But  now  He  dead  —  dead.  What  means  such  an 
event  to  the  universe  ?  Manifestly  it  means  some- 
thing very  dreadful.  The  difference  to  the  system 
between  the  presence  and  the  absence  of  such  a 
dynamic  as  God  is  plain  infinity.  And  so  I  declare 
that  an  unspeakable  loss  has  been  sustained.  A 
good  that  defies  figures,  and  even  the  fancy,  has 
been  subtracted  from  the  creation.  It  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  the  creation  became  bankrupt  at 
that  loss  —  became,  at  that  stroke  of  doom,  both 
altar  and  sacrifice  ;  a  holocaust  sacrifice,  whose 
lurid  flames  make  all  space  ghastly,  and  go  on  to 
fill  it  with  the  charred  and  ruinous  heaps  of  its 


TOTAL  SCIENTIFIC  IMPORT.  245 

former  fair  self.  Oh,  how  these  dismal  ruins  hunger 
and  thirst  for  the  old  God !  Oh,  how  much  these 
black  and  cindered  earths  yearn  and  beseech  after 
Him  through  their  innumerable  fissures  and  gap- 
ing wounds,  as  the  parched  and  chapped  ground  in 
fiercest  drought  yearns  and  cries  toward  the  heavens 
for  rain  !  At  last  true  midnight  has  come.  And 
from  out  its  anguished  bosom,  indestructible  though 
ruined  Nature  sends  forth  groans  on  groans  accented 
with  profound  despair  —  broken  with  piteous  protests 
and  pleadings  for  a  God  that  cannot  be  spared. 
There  is  not  a  scorched  and  scarred  fragment 
that  does  not,  forgetting  all  other  wants,  join  in 
the  mournful  chime,  Oh  for  a  God,  Oh  for  a  God  ! 
The  state  of  things  is  such  as  to  invoke  the  dead 
God  from  His  nonentity  with  almost  the  force  of  a 
Creator.  And  should  He,  in  answer  to  these  ap- 
peals "  creating  a  soul  under  the  ribs  of  death," 
again  suddenly  make  His  appearance  —  appear  no 
more  to  die  —  Oh,  what  thrills  would  circulate, 
what  hallelujahs  would  go  up,  what  jubilees  of 
shouts  and  songs  would  peal  and  re-peal,  what  an 
ecstatic  wave  of  sacred  laughter  would  run  and  flash 
in  the  new  sunlight  across  the  whole  breadth  of 
being !  Nature  would  ring  all  her  bells.  She 
would  blow  all  her  silver  trumpets.  Even  demons, 
methinks,  would  rejoice  as  they  emerged  from  that 
chaotic  night  into  morning.  Even  they  would  be 
glad  at  that  greatest  of  Eurekas —  the  refinding 
of  One  who  knows  how  to  govern.  Never  before 


246  SEVENTH  LECTURE. 

has  such  exulting  Sabbath  been  kept  —  not  even 
when  the  morning  stars  sang  together,  and  all  the 
sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy.  And  it  is  but  just. 
So  utterly  measureless  is  the  need  of  God.  No  or- 
dinary words  of  literal  statement  can  begin  to  carry 
a  just  sense  of  its  greatness. 

I  saw  a  little  child  —  wandering,  wandering.  A 
strange  place,  new  objects,  fresh  curious  eyes  peer- 
ing at  everything— little  one,  where  are  you  going  ? 
Suddenly  she  misses  her  father.  Where  is  he  ? 
She  looks  round  and  round.  Where  is  the  familiar 
hand  that  a  short  time  ago  held  hers ;  where  the 
familiar  face  that  but  just  now  was  looking  down 
upon  her  so  tenderly  and  protectingly  ?  A  great 
fear  begins  to  steal  upon  her.  She  lifts  up  her  voice. 
"  Father,  Father"  No  answer  comes.  "  Father, 
Father,  FATHER."  Still  no  answer.  Her  alarm 
increases  fast.  She  begins  to  run  about  and  to  ask 
of  one  and  another,  with  flushed  face  and  anxious, 
questioning  eyes,  "  Have  you  seen  him— Have  you 
seen  my  father  ?  "  No  —  no  one  has  seen  him ;  and 
the  poor  child's  heart  fails  her  more  and  more.  Her 
knees  begin  to  tremble,  she  is  all  agitation,  her 
questionings  and  calls  become  every  moment  more 
Imrried  and  tremulous ;  at  last  a  spasm  of  mingled 
wails  and  calls  pours  out  of  her  white  lips,  and  she 
breaks  down  into  convulsive  sobs  which  no  sooth- 
ings  can  allay.  Poor  child — she  has  lost  her 
father !  Will  she  never  see  him  again  ?  God  for- 
bid —  if  there  be  a  God. 


TOTAL  SCIENTIFIC  IMPORT.  247 

This  partly  expresses  what  every  good  man 
would  feel  like  doing  on  discovering  himself  to  be 
without  a  God  —  what  all  men,  after  a  short  expe- 
rience of  doing  without  Him,  would  feel  like  doing 

—  indeed,   what   comprehensive    Nature,  could  it 
become  personal,  would  certainly  do.     She  would, 
with  a  great  fear  at  her  heart,  begin  to  call  for  the 
lost  Heavenly  Father.    She  would  go  searching  for 
Him  and  asking  for  Him  up  and  clown  all  the  lati- 
tudes and  longitudes.     And  should  she  not  succeed 
in  finding  Him ;  should  no  answer  come  to  her  loud 
and   urgent  invoking ;    should   she  nowhere   meet 
with  any  who  could  tell  of  having  seen  Him  or  His 
like  ;  should  at  last  the  deepening  gloom  and  silence 
whisper  He  is  dead  —  oh,  what  a   heart-breaking 
wail  would  go  up  that  moment  to  pierce  the  very 
heavens  !     Drenched  in   sobs  and  tears,  that  poor 
orphaned  child,  though  bearing  the  great  name  of 
Nature,  would  wish  herself  dead  also.    But  hark  — 
what  sound  is  that  ?     It  comes  nearer  and  nearer. 
She  has  caught  it.    She  lifts  her  streaming  face  and 
breathlessly  attends.     On  comes  the  strange  sound 

—  deepening  and  widening  and  at  last  taking  on  a 
perceptible  accent  of  joy.     She  springs  to  her  feet. 
With  parted  lips  and  face  pictorial  with  hope  she 
leans   toward   the   advancing   murmur.      "  He   is 
found,"    "  He  is  found  "  —  at  last  shapes  itself  dis- 
tinctly to  her  greedy  ear.     Lo,  the  day  breaks  like 
noon  over  her  beaming  face.     She  springs  forward, 
she  runs,  she  leaps,  she  meets  Him  afar,  she  clings 


248  SEVENTH  LECTURE. 

about  His  knees,  she  casts  herself  into  His  open 
arms  and  nestles  in  His  bosom.  Her  sobs  die  away. 
She  looks  up  into  His  face  and  smiles  and  clings, 
and  clings  and  smiles.  At  last  she  is  at  rest.  God 
bless  her  —  at  last  the  poor  child  whom  some  call 
Nature,  is  at  rest.  And  the  tears  of  by-standers  — 
the  spaces  and  durations  —  fall  in  joyful  rain.  It  is 
all  right  — just  as  it  should  be.  It  would  have  been 
such  a  dreadful  orphanage  !  Such  rags,  such  hun- 
gers, such  rooflessness  and  homelessness,  such  neg- 
lects and  exposures  and  blows,  such  ignorance  and 
guilt  and  misery  —  never  were  seen  the  like.  Poor 
Nature  would  have  DIED. 

What  is  the  scientific  import  of  all  this  ?  This 
need  of  a  God,  so  pronounced  and  mighty  —  what 
means  it  in  view  of  such  science  as  forms  the  glory 
and  boast  of  this  nineteenth  century  ?  Why,  it 
means  the  same  as  every  other  case  of  natural  ge- 
neric need  —  it  means  a  supply  of  the  need ;  it 
means  an  actual  God.  Nay,  it  means  Him  with  an 
emphasis  more  prompt  and  sonorous  than  ever  came 
from  any  other  need  whatever.  For  it  is  the  su- 
preme need.  It  is  the  Labarum  among  standards, 
and  the  Pontifex  Maximus  among  priests.  Indeed, 
it  is  much  more  than  this.  It  is  not  only  a  supreme 
need  but  an  incomparable  one ;  not  only  an  incom- 
parable one  but  one  which  could  not  be  greater. 
How  could  a  need  cry  more  out  of  the  very  depths 
and  essential  nature  of  finite  things  ?  How  could 
it  relate  to  more  vital  things  than  virtue,  and  those 


TOTAL  SCIENTIFIC  IMPORT.  249 

forms  of  happiness  and  usefulness  that  naturally 
follow  in  the  wake  of  virtue  ?  How  could  it  bear 
on  a  greater  variety  of  interests  than  Infinite  Fac- 
ulty can  reach  and  aid,  or  bear  on  them  more  heav- 
ily ?  How  could  it  spread  itself  over  a  wider  area 
of  being  than  the  enormous  All  ?  So  that  it  is  not 
enough  to  say  that  Nature  aches  after  God  more 
than  ever  eye  ached  for  light,  or  lungs  for  air,  or 
wings  for  an  atmosphere,  or  fins  for  waters,  or 
the  babe  for  its  mother.  It  is  even  not  enough  to 
say  that  this  Divine  need  towers  out  of  sight  above 
all  others ;  that  it  is  indefinitely  beyond  rivalry ; 
that,  toto  orbe,  there  is  nothing  else  for  which  Na- 
ture clamors  so  deeply,  from  so  many  mouths,  with 
such  variety  and  breadth  of  voices,  and  in  behalf 
of  so  many  classes  of  being.  It  is  not  enough  to 
say  even  this.  We  must  go  on  to  say  with  ple- 
nary voice  that  it  is  not  within  the  range  of  possibil- 
ities for  a  need  to  be  greater  at  any  one  of  these 
essential  points.  It  is  a  maximum  of  maxima.  It  is 
the  eternity  among  the  durations,  the  astronomical 
abyss  among  the  spaces,  the  God  among  living  be- 
ings. The  day  that  should  see  the  universe  va- 
cated of  a  God  would  begin  to  see  it  beggared  to  the 
last  farthing.  And  when  we  have  said  all  this,  and 
truly  said  it ;  when  all  such  secular  needs  as  we  have 
been  instancing  appear  dwarfed  into  nothingness  by 
its  side  ;  I  demand  in  the  name  of  Science  —  Shall  all 
these  little  needs,  without  exception,  be  allowed  to 
argue  a  supply  for  themselves,  and  the  same  privi- 


250  SEVENTH  LECTURE. 

lege  be  denied  to  this  greatest  ?  Shall  all  these  be 
allowed  to  argue  in  proportion  to  their  size,  and 
it  be  denied  to  this  need  to  argue  at  all  ?  Science 
protests  against  such  strange  proceedings.  She  will 
not  permit  such  huge  inconsistency  —  especially  as 
done  in  her  name.  After  we  have  taken  indefinite 
consecutive  cases  of  organic  and  generic  need,  and 
found  them  always  balanced  by  supply  with  a 
brilliancy  and  emphasis  proportioned  to  their  size, 
shall  we  come  to  the  next  case  —  which  happens  to 
be  that  of  the  Divine  need  —  without  expecting  a 
continuation  of  the  law  ?  Who  will  be  so  unscientific, 
unreasonable,  and  absurd  ?  Who  will  not  feel  able 
to  rest  all  his  weight  on  that  long  chain  of  inductions  ? 
What  scholar  in  the  Baconian  philosophy  and  the 
philosophy  of  common  sense  will  hesitate  to  declare 
that  this  need,  which  transcends  all  others  so  im- 
mensely in  magnitude,  transcends  them  correspond- 
ingly in  the  force  with  which  it  argues  for  that 
grand  supply  whose  name  is  God  ? 

So  the  nisus  predicts  a  God.  The  Being  who  is 
needed  to  complement  Nature  into  a  whole  really 
exists.  The  great  hunger  for  Him  which  belongs  to 
normal  human  nature  is  provided  for;  the  great 
vacuum  that  beseeches  Him  like  a  maelstrom  can 
be  filled ;  the  great  finger-post  that  points  at  Him 
so  steadily  from  all  corners  is  not  perjured  ;  the 
great  drafts  and  streams  that  set  in  from  all  quar- 
ters toward  Him  really  have  Him  for  their  Equa- 
tor ;  the  great  wheel  whose  radii  are  seen  con- 


TOTAL  SCIENTIFIC  IMPORT.  251 

verging  on  Him  till  they  are  lost  in  clouds  really 
has  Him  for  its  sublime  Axis. 

See  how  these  flowers,  and  indeed  all  this  abun- 
dant vegetation,  have  their  generic  slant  sunward ! 
Do  I  need  to  have  seen  that  attracting  sun  during 
all  these  months  and  years  in  order  to  know  that  it 
has  existed  and  shone  ?  Nature  is  a  heliotrope  — 
an  enormous  sunflower,  turning  its  whole  fruitful 
bosom  toward  God ;  and  when  I  see  that  generic 
bent,  I  do  not  need  to  see  God  in  order  to  know  that 
He  is.  I  see  the  obeisance  which  the  creatures  are 
paying  to  their  Creator.  —  See  how  these  vines  lean 
and  twine  and  cling  and  put  forth  their  profuse 
rootlets  and  tendrils !  Does  one  need  to  see  the 
firm  trees  and  sturdy  walls  and  century-defying 
church-towers  to  which  these  epiphytes  fasten 
themselves,  in  order  to  know  that  such  supports 
may  be  had?  Nature  is  an  ivy  —  a  leaner  and 
clinger  by  its  very  structure,  with  tendrils  and 
rootlets  innumerable  issuing  from  all  parts,  and 
reaching  for  support  and  nourishment  to  something 
indefinitely  firmer  and  richer  than  itself ;  and  I  do 
not  need  to  see  cathedral  God  in  order  to  know  that 
this  glorious  support  for  Nature  may  be  found. 
The  very  structure  and  infinite  tendrils  of  that 
wonderful  creeper  proclaim  Him.  —  See  how  mys- 
terious instinct  draws  the  babe  toward  its  mother, 
the  bee  toward  its  cell-building  and  honey-making, 
the  silk-worm  toward  its  spinning,  the  coralline  to- 
ward its  submarine  architecture,  and  each  species 


252  SEVENTH  LECTURE. 

of  living  Nature  toward  its  peculiar  functions  and 
line  of  life  !  Surely,  if  one  could  know  these  in- 
stincts apart  from  the  things  to  which  they  point, 
he  would  not  need  to  actually  see  that  mother  with 
his  two  eyes  in  order  to  know  that  she  exists  —  or 
that  curious  honey-comb  with  its  plenum  of  mathe- 
matics and  nectar ;  or  that  cocoon  wealthy  with  the 
silks  of  Lyons  and  Cathay  ;  or  that  coral  archipel- 
ago within  whose  harbors  navies  safely  ride,  and 
on  whose  fertile  bosom  tropical  harvests  bloom  and 
empurple  —  these  things  are  all  implied  and  sworn 
to  in  the  very  instincts  themselves.  Such,  from 
babe  to  coralline,  is  Nature ;  and  the  true  Mother, 
the  infinite  Sweetness,  the  gorgeous  Robe,  the 
tropical  Paradise  to  which  it  instinctively  reaches 
forth  and  calls,  is  God.  Why  must  I  see  Him  in 
order  to  know  that  He  is  ?  The  very  instinct  that 
blindly  draws  and  pushes  everywhere  toward  utility 
and  beauty  and  goodness  and  worship  announces 
Him  sufficiently. 

See  Uranus  wavering  and  quavering  on  his  Si- 
berian path.  Must  I  put  a  telescope  to  my  eye, 
and  descry  perturbing  Neptune,  before  I  send  in  to 
the  Institute  my  account  of  the  new  planet  ?  It 
alone  satisfies  the  perturbations.  Still  look,  O  Ger- 
man Galle,  and  all  ye  whose  faith  in  mathematics 
and  the  law  of  gravitation  is  weak ;  look  toward 
Delta  Capricorni,  and  optically  find  what  is  already 
theoretically  known.  —  See  all  the  path-bits  of  the 
solar  system  curved  as  for  a  common  center,  and 


TOTAL  SCIENTIFIC  IMPORT.  253 

lo,  some  of  the  celestial  pilgrims  brightly  smiling 
toward  the  same  point !  Who  feels  that  he  must 
actually  see  that  center  blazing  as  a  sun  before  he 
can  solidly  believe  in  it  ?  Why,  all  the  arcs  of  the 
system,  great  and  small,  unite  in  affirming  that  pri- 
mate and  metropolitan. —  See  Constellation  Hercules 
growing  larger,  year  by  year.  Must  you  see,  with 
fleshly  eyes,  a  flaming  ellipse  trending  along  the 
abyss,  and  carefully  take  its  bearing  among  the 
stars  with  compass  and  sights,  before  you  will  con- 
sent to  believe  in  it  ?  If  so,  alas  for  the  Herschels 
and  Struves  !  They  are  visionaries,  and  not  the 
men  of  science  they  have  had  the  credit  of  being.  — 
See  the  proper  motions  of  all  Galacteal  stirs  curved 
as  if  for  central  Pleiades  !  To  know  the  reality  of 
that  center,  must  I  actually  see  it  blazing  like  twelve 
thousand  suns,  and  actually  see  it  brightly  zoned 
about  by  its  eighteen  millions  of  completed  ellipses, 
and  actually  hunt  down,  one  by  one,  as  many 
shadowy  foci  till  they  are  lost  to  view  in  thy  efful- 
gent bosom,  O  illustrious  and  imperial  Alcyone  ? 
Not  at  all.  Forbid  it,  Dorpat  and  Pulkova  —  for- 
bid it,  the  fames  of  Msedler  and  Argelander  and  all 
most  signal  astronomers !  Never  do  I  need  turn 
eye  on  the  neck  of  Taurus.  Its  famous  cluster 
might  be  as  strange  to  my  sight  as  the  lost  Pleiad. 
And  yet  I  must  believe.  It  is  enough  for  me  that 
I  know  the  law  of  gravitation,  and  have  noted  the 
general  drift  of  our  heavens.  This  settles  the 
matter.  Every  bit  of  star-path  out  in  yonder 


254  SEVENTH  LECTURE. 

vault  contributes  a  voice  to  that  euphemism  which 
tells  me  the  brilliant  story  of  the  Central  Sun.  I 
am  assured  of  that  august  nebular  heart,  of  that 
astonishing  center  of  force  and  revolution,  as 
plainly,  if  not  as  impressively,  as  I  could  have 
been  by  near  sight.  No,  I  do  not  need  to  see  it. 
No  more  do  I  need  to  see  God  in  order  to  know  of 
His  existence.  He  is  perturbing  Neptune.  He  is 
the  Herculean  Constellation  toward  which  all  things 
sail.  He  is  the  metropolitan  Alcyone  around  which 
all  things  revolve.  So  I  have  no  occasion  to  invoke 
sight.  The  perturbations  of  Nature  show  Him. 
Her  orbits  concave  to  Him  proclaim  Him.  The 
general  drift  of  her  firmaments  announces  Him  like 
a  choir  of  trumpets  and  artilleries.  Hail,  Great 
Center  oT  revolving  being  —  as  real  as  if  we  saw 
Thee  on  Thy  throne  sending  forth  Thy  beams  and 
government  to  remotest  space  !  The  nisus  has  re- 
vealed Thee ;  and  it  was  not  in  vain  that  we 
adjured 

"  Per  magnos,  Nisu,  Penates 
Assaracique  Larem,  et  canae  penetralia  Vestse 
Obtestor ;  qusecumque  mihi  fortuna  fidesque  est 
In  vestris  pono  gremiis :  revocate  parentem ; 
Reddite  conspectum;  nihil  illo  triste  recepto." 


VIII. 

THEISM 

AS  A 

SCIENTIFIC  HYPOTHESIS. 

tW  Kat  €7rafa>. 


Xpvo-€ta  raXavra  —  TpaW  \5PCS  ^P^5  ovpavov  aepOev. 

Jfomer. 


EIGHTH  LECTURE. 


THEISM  AS  A  SCIENTIFIC   HYPOTHESIS. 

T  ASK  your  attention  in  this  Lecture  to  the  su- 
•*-  perior  merits  of  Theism  as  an  hypothesis  for  the 
explanation  of  Nature.  Notice  that  the  hypothesis, 
while  perfectly  sufficient,  and,  to  say  the  least,  a 
priori  as  credible  as  any,  is  vastly  the  simplest,  the 
surest,  the  safest,  the  sublimest,  and  the  most  in  ac- 
cord with  the  convictions  and  traditions  of  mankind, 
especially  of  the  most  enlightened  and  moral  part 
of  mankind.  Some  of  these  particulars  may  appear 
at  first  sight  to  address  themselves  solely  to  the 
taste  and  interest :  I  trust  they  will  be  found  to  ap- 
peal to  the  reason  as  well. 

The    Theistic   Hypothesis   is   perfectly  sufficient. 

It  is  plain  that  a  Being  of  power  and  wisdom 
indefinitely  beyond  the  human  can  completely  ac- 
count for  all  the  wonders  of  Nature.  Nothing 
could  be  plainer.  A  child  can  see  it  as  well  as  the 
sage.  The  most  exquisitely  fashioned  man,  the 
noblest  astral  system,  the  aggregate  of  the  amazingly 
varied  organisms  that  crowd  the  earth  and  spangle 
the  sky  —  a  God  is  abundantly  equal  to  the  produc- 
17 


258  EIGHTH  LECTURE. 

tion  of  them  all.  There  is  absolutely  nothing 
which  such  a  Being  cannot  do  with  the  greatest 
ease.  He  has  skill  enough  to  contrive  the  most 
exquisite  things,  power  enough  to  accomplish  the 
hardest  things,  and  comprehension  enough  to  tri- 
umph with  these  attributes  over  the  largest  fields 
of  being  which  observation  has  examined  or  thought 

o  o 

conjectured.  As  an  explanation  of  Nature,  the  The- 
istic  hypothesis  could  not  be  improved.  The 
hardiest  assailant  would  scarcely  dare  question  its 
perfect  sufficiency. 

The  Theistio  Hypothesis  is,  to  say  the  least,  a  priori, 
as  credible  as  any. 

The  various  hypotheses  to  account  for  organic 
Nature  are  as  follows.  First,  natural  organisms, 
as  individuals  or  races,  are  eternal.  Second,  they 
were  constructed  by  chance.  Third,  they  were 
constructed  by  law  —  that  is,  by  blind  material  ele- 
ments acting  in  obedience  to  the  eternal  laws  of 
their  natures.  Fourth,  they  were  constructed  by 
God. 

The  first  two  suppositions  are  too  openly  in 
conflict  with  observation  and  science  to  find  any 
supporters  in  this  age.  No  one  now  supposes  that 
the  individual  plants  and  animals  which  he  sees 
about  him  have  always  existed  as  such.  That  tree, 
that  brute,  that  man  —  each  of  these  individuals 
self-existent,  imperishable,  eternal !  All  the  senses 
of  all  men  are  against  it.  They  protest  in  a  thou- 
sand ways  that  such  organisms  begin  and  flux  and 


AS  CREDIBLE,  A  PRIORI.  259 

dissolve  with  every  passing  day.  Equally  plain 
is  it  that  the  races  began  —  as  plain  as  the 
igneous  and  metamorphic  rocks,  and  the  alphabet 
of  geology.  —  As  to  a  man,  or  even  a  blade  of 
grass,  becoming  constructed  by  a  strictly  fortuitous 
concourse  of  atoms,  such  epicureanism  is  now  out 
of  date  by  many  centuries.  Chance  —  no  person 
of  culture  at  the  present  day  believes  in  such  a 
thing !  Nor  is  it  Argyle  alone  who  believes  in  the 
reign  of  law.  The  schoolboy  or  the  schoolless 
peasant  does  it  as  well  as  the  cultured  noble.  All 
persons  among  us  now  understand  that  every  atom 
has  its  essential  properties  and  laws,  which,  together 
with  those  of  other  atoms  and  agents,  spiritual  and 
other,  determine  all  its  doings  and  experiences. 
The  very  idea  of  hap-hazard  died  and  was  buried 
at  the  incoming  of  modern  science  ;  and  every  new 
inquiry  into  Nature  heaps  new  measures  of  dust 
on  the  grave.  So  we  may  put  aside  the  two 
hypotheses  first  named.  The  comparison  lies  wholly 
between  the  last  two  — between  that  of  construction 
by  law  and  that  of  construction  by  God.  Which 
of  these  has  the  best  claim  on  our  favor? 

Let  it  be  observed,  in  the  first  place,  that  the 
hypothesis  of  construction  by  God  is,  to  say  the 
least,  fully  as  credible,  on  its  face,  as  its  rival.  Of 
course  a  person  is  perfectly  credible ;  for  we  know 
millions  of  such  beings  in  actual  existence.  Of 
course  a  person  producing  organisms,  and  very  elab- 
orate organisms,  is  perfectly  credible ;  for  we  know 


260  EIGHTH  LECTURE. 

millions  on  millions  of  persons  actually  doing  as 
much.  An  eternal  and  practically  infinite  personal 
constructer  of  organisms  is  a  more  difficult  concep- 
tion, and  further  removed  from  our  experience  ;  but 
not  more  so  than  the  eternal  and  practically  infinite 
material  constructer  of  organisms  which  the  law  hy- 
pothesis assumes ;  for  it  assumes  what  is  really  a 
material  God —  an  eternal  assemblage  of  blind  atoms 
with  properties  in  the  aggregate  fully  equivalent,  so 
far  as  production  of  results  is  concerned,  to  that 
personal  power  and  wisdom  indefinitely  greater  than 
the  human  which  the  Theistic  hypothesis  ascribes 
to  God.  Indeed,  the  construction  of  organisms  by 
an  intelligent  agent  is  wonderfully  more  conformed 
to  experience,  not  to  say  reason,  than  the  construc- 
tion of  such  organisms  by  mere  blind  matter.  We 
have  no  conceded  instances  of  the  latter  construc- 
tion, while  we  have  innumerable  conceded  instances 
of  the  former.  Men  do  plan  and  execute  watches, 
telegraphs,  sewing-machines,  pin-machines  —  ma- 
chines beyond  count.  This  is  matter  of  absolute 
knowledge.  It  is  universally  granted  among  those 
who  believe  in  knowledge  at  all.  But  construction 
by  mere  blind  force,  is  not  granted — especially 
construction  of  intelligent  and  moral  beings.  Only 
a  very  few  imagine  such  a  thing  proved  at  all, 
and  they  in  only  a  few  instances,  and  that  rather 
as  a  possibility  or  a  presumption  than  as  a  demon- 
stration. And  just  think  of  it.  A  mist  of  blind  ele- 
ments blindly  shaping  itself,  not  only  into  an  infinity 


SIMPLEST.  261 

of  useful  and  admirable  objects  —  and  such  only  — 
like  plants  and  animals,  but  also  into  intelligent 
and  moral  beings  ;  into  statesmen,  philosophers,  and 
saints  ;  into  Napoleons,  Miltons,  Newtons,  Howards ; 
in  fine,  into  such  books  as  the  Principia  or  Paradise 
Lost  —  for  the  author  cannot  be  less  wonderful  than 
his  works.  What  says  an  unsophisticated  mind  to 
the  idea  of  matter,  under  blind  forces  and  laws, 
shaping  itself  into  the  Iliad,  or  the  Me*canique  Ce*- 
leste,  or  the  mosaic  portraits  of  the  popes  that  look 
down  so  marvelously  in  long  order  in  the  Roman  St. 
Paul's  ?  Why,  the  very  idea  gives  a  shock  to  the 
understandings  of  most  men !  It  seems  like  an 
insult  to  their  intuitions.  It  seems  to  defy  their 
common  sense  and  knowledge  of  Nature.  Blind 
causation  do  such  things !  To  say  that  the  con- 
ception is  hard,  far-fetched,  unnatural,  is  not 
enough.  It  looks  vastly  preposterous.  It  begs 
like  Demosthenes  to  be  considered  a  self-con- 
tradiction. The  man  who  accepts  it  instead  of 
Theism,  has  wonderfully  the  appearance  of  one 
swallowing  a  camel  after  straining  at  a  gnat. 
Blind  causation  do  such  things  —  it  seems  a  feat  a 
hundred  fold  more  wonderful  than  any  ever  attrib- 
uted to  a  personal  God  !  Really,  the  hypothesis  of 
construction  by  law  is,  on  its  face,  greatly  less 
credible  than  that  of  construction  by  God. 

The  Theistic  Hypothesis  is  vastly  the  simplest. 

Each  hypothesis,  considered  as  an  explanation  of 
Nature,  consists  formally  of  two  parts —  first,  certain 


262  EIGHTH  LECTURE. 

assumptions ;  and,  second,  certain  considerations  to 
show  that  these  assumptions,  in  connection  with 
known  principles,  will  explain  Nature.  In  the  case 
of  the  Theistic  hypothesis,  the  first  part  consists  of 
the  supposition  of  an  eternal  Being  with  power  and 
wisdom  indefinitely  greater  than  the  human,  while  - 
the  second  part  is  nil — no  considerations  whatever 
being  required  to  show  that  such  a  Being  can 
account  for  the  whole  hight  and  breadth  of  Na- 
ture. 

Not  so  with  the  law  hypothesis.  Here  the  two 
parts  are  much  less  simple,  being  in  fact  two  very 
generic  and  complicated  schemes  of  suppositions 
and  arguments  ;  one  called  the  cosmical  hypothesis 
for  explaining  the  origin  of  worlds,  and  the  other 
called  the  physiological  hypothesis  for  explaining 
the  origin  of  the  living  organisms  on  this  world. 
The  leading  suppositions  of  the  general  scheme  are 
as  follows  :  — 

1.  An  eternal  substance,  namely,  matter. 

2.  An   infinite   number   of   eternal    substances, 
namely,  countless  material  atoms  having  independ- 
ent existence. 

3.  An  eternal  and  infinitely  complex  scheme  of 
exquisite    relationships    between    these    countless, 
eternal,  independently  subsisting  substances. 

4.  These  exquisitely  correlated  atoms   tenuously 
diffused  as  a  gas  or  mist. 

5.  This  mist  vastly  larger  than  a  solar  system. 

6.  This  mist  on  fire. 


SIMPLEST.  263 

7.  Currents  in  this  mist,  obliquely  toward  the 
general  center  of  gravity  and  nucleus  of  conden- 
sation. 

8.  Several  minor  nuclei  of  special  condensation 
distributed  through  the  mass  —  each  with  its   own 
system  of  oblique  currents. 

9.  All  these  nuclei  such  in  size,  place,  and  num- 
ber, as  to  harmonize  with   the  conditions  of  stable 
equilibrium  in  a  solar  system.     I  call  particular  at- 
tention to  this  last  most  voluminous  assumption. 

These  are  only  a  part  of  the  assumptions  included 
in  the  law  hypothesis  —  merely  leading  specimens. 
You  observe  that  the  infinite  and  eternal  enter 
quite  as  largely  into  this  scheme  of  explanation  as 
into  the  other  —  indeed,  more  largely  —  while  there 
is  no  comparison  between  the  two  schemes  as  to 
number  of  assumptions. 

But,  allowing  these  numerous  assumptions,  it 
does  not  intuitively  appear  from  them,  as  it  does 
from  the  assumptions  of  the  Theistic  hypothesis,  that 
they  will  explain  Nature.  Arguments  are  neces- 
sary. No  small  amount  of  them  is  necessary.  The 
arguments  to  show  that  the  foregoing  postulates, 
with  the  help  of  known  laws  of  matter  and  prin- 
ciples of  science,  are  adequate  to  explain  natural, 
organisms,  may  be  arranged  in  three  classes :  — 

First,  certain  arguments  to  show  that  all  the 
worlds  composing  our  solar  system,  and  the  leading 
features  of  each  world,  may  be  naturally  derived 
from  the  foregoing  data.  These  arguments  are 


264  EIGHTH  LECTURE. 

long  and  intricate  ;  and  when  duly  spread  out,  make 
a  volume. 

Second,  certain  arguments  to  show  the  possibility 
of  spontaneous  generation  of  the  lower  forms  of  or- 
ganic life.  These  arguments  are  long  and  intricate ; 
and  when  duly  spread  out,  make  a  volume. 

Third,  certain  arguments  to  show  the  possibility 
of  transmutation  of  species  by  gradual  natural  de- 
velopment of  these  lower  organisms  into  higher 
forms,  and  at  last  into  intelligent  and  moral  beings. 
These  arguments  are  long  and  intricate  ;  and  when 
duly  spread  out,  make  a  volume. 

Now,  granting  that  the  two  schemes  of  explana- 
tion are,  in  the  last  result,  equally  good  at  account- 
ing for  Nature,  you  observe  that  one  is  a  vastly 
more  complex  plan  of  explanation  than  the  other. 
With  elements  fully  as  difficult,  one  consists  of 
many  parts  —  the  other  of  few.  With  elements 
fully  as  difficult,  one  requires  volumes  to  unfold  it- 
self fully  —  the  other  requires  only  a  few  words. 
Need  I  ask  which  is  the  more  philosophical  ?  It  is 
an  immemorial  and  indisputable  canon  of  philosophy 
to  accept  the  simplest  explanation  of  facts. 

We  have  taken  the  law  hypothesis  in  its  usual 
form.  If  any  one  thinks  it  may  be  made  more 
simple  by  supposing  more  and  arguing  less,  let  him 
try.  Let  him  reduce  the  second  part  of  the  hy- 
pothesis to  zero  by  introducing  the  following  com- 
prehensive supposition  into  the  first  part.  Suppose 
those  eternally  correlated  atoms  to  have  an  efficiency 


SIMPLEST.  265 

practically  infinite  —  to  have  forces  and  laws  which 
as  a  whole  are  fully  equivalent,  so  far  as  results 
are  concerned,  to  that  power  and  wisdom  indefi- 
nitely greater  than  human  which  the  Theistic  hy- 
pothesis ascribes  to  God  —  to  have  forces  and  laws 
which  are  of  themselves  able  to  bring  the  atoms 
together  into  all  the  exquisite  organisms  that  we 
see,  up  to  intelligent  and  moral  beings. 

Of  course,  to  grant  this  supposition  is  to  grant 
everything.  No  need  of  any  argument  to  show 
that  such  an  hypothesis  will  explain  Nature.  But 
is  such  an  hypothesis  plainly  allowable  ?  Does  it  as- 
sume only  what  is  plainly  possible  ?  All  the  assump- 
tions of  the  Theistic  hypothesis  are  assumptions  of 
what  in  the  nature  of  things  are  evidently  possible  — 
an  eternal  person,  this  person  indefinitely  superior  to 
man  in  wisdom  and  power.  But  this  last  assump- 
tion of  the  law  hypothesis  is  a  very  different  matter. 
To  take  for  granted  that  a  mist  of  atoms,  by  virtue 
of  any  blind  properties  whatever,  can  arrange  itself 
into  that  infinite  variety  of  exquisite  organisms  — 
and  nothing  but  exquisite  organisms  —  that  we  see, 
is  taking  for  granted  a  great  deal ;  is  taking  for 
granted  what  one  may  well  be  pardoned  for  doubt- 
ing. The  possibility  of  such  a  thing  needs  mightily 
to  be  shown.  It  needs  to  be  shown  that  astonishing 
solar  systems  can  result  from  mere  natural  forces 
and  laws ;  that  spontaneous  genesis  of  organic  life 
in  some  low  form  can  occur ;  that  there  may  be  a 
natural  development  of  this  low  form,  through  trans- 


266  EIGHTH  LECTURE. 

mutation  of  species,  into  the  most  wonderful  men. 
The  possibility  of  all  this  needs  not  only  to  be 
shown,  but  to  be  shown  to  a  demonstration ;  since 
all  the  assumptions  of  the  rival  hypothesis  are  pos- 
sible to  an  absolute  certainty.  It  is  self-evident 
that  there  is  some  eternal  substance,  and  that  an 
eternal  person  is,  in  the  nature  of  things,  just  as 
possible  as  eternal  matter  —  self-evident  that  there 
is  nothing  in  the  nature  of  things  to  limit  an  eternal 
intelligence  to  a  given  breadth  of  knowledge  and 
power  —  self-evident  that  there  is  nothing  to  pre- 
vent that  intelligence  from  being  as  much  greater 
than  men  in  these  respects  as  man  is  greater  than 
a  worm.  Thus  in  the  Theistic  hypothesis.  So 
everything  in  the  rival  hypothesis  must  be  put  on  a 
basis  of  absolute  certainty.  That  profuse  argument, 
drawn  out  through  volumes,  which  undertakes  to 
show  the  possibility  of  a  cloud  of  blind  atoms  doing 
the  work  of  an  infinite  God  must  be  made  as  strong 
as  Euclid.  Every  link  in  that  long  chain  of  evi- 
dence must  be  forged  by  some  Vulcan  in  the  smithy 
of  geometry.  On  this  plan  of  exhibition,  the  law 
hypothesis  will  be  quite  as  complex  as  on  the  other 
plan.  On  both  plans  it  is  a  most  cumbrous  machine 
for  its  purpose  —  wheels  within  wheels  in  most  un- 
necessary and  perplexing  maze.  It  is  the  first  rough 
effort  of  the  inventor  compared  with  the  instrument 
when,  at  last,  simplified  into  a  tithe  of  its  original 
size  and  expense  by  the  labors  of  many  years  and 
many  rival  ingenuities.  It  is  the  long,  rambling, 


SIMPLEST.  267 

tedious  process  of  some  unfledged  geometer  com- 
pared with  the  swift  and  laconic  algebra  of  La 
Grange.  It  is  the  Ptolemaic  system  of  Astronomy 
compared  with  the  Copernican  —  the  vortices  of 
Descartes  compared  with  the  Newtonian  principle 
and  law  of  gravity.  What  manufacturer  now  uses 
the  first  spinning-jenny  of  Arkwright  ?  What  math- 
ematician now  works  at  his  daily  investigations  with 
the  ancient  synthesis  rather  than  with  the  modern 
analysis  ?  What  astronomer  now  explains  the 
heavens  according  to  Ptolemy?  Cycles  and  epi- 
cycles and  deferents  and  eccentrics  piled  on  each 
other — who  does  not  bless  himself  that  he  is  well 
out  of  this  tangled  wilderness  into  the  grand  sim- 
plicity of  the  Copernican  theory  ?  With  a  true 
philosopher,  nothing  but  the  clumsy  manifoldness 
of  the  old  system,  as  compared  with  the  new,  is 
needed  to  secure  its  emphatic  rejection.  Could  it 
explain  all  astronomical  facts  equally  well  with  its 
simpler  rival,  it  would  still  fail  of  countenance  for  a 
single  moment,  as  being  essentially  unscientific.  So 
should  fail  of  countenance  that  complex  and  cum- 
brous law  hypothesis  which  is  the  Ptolemaic  system 
of  natural  theology.  However  successful  it  may 
prove  in  accounting  for  Nature  —  though  it  should 
leave  nothing  to  bo  desired  in  respect  to  clearness 
and  certainty  of  result  —  it  ought  to  be  summarily 
rejected  as  being  a  tedious  Chancery  and  Circumlo- 
cution Office.  What  traveller  rides  with  a  fiftieth 
or  even  a  fifth  wheel  to  his  carriage  ?  What  Amer- 


268  EIGHTH  LECTURE. 

ican,  seeking  merely  New  York,  goes  by  way  of 
Pekin  ? 

The  Theistic  Hypothesis  is  vastly  the  surest. 

It  is  perfectly  certain  —  certain  to  the  apprehen- 
sion of  all  mankind  —  that  the  hypothesis  of  a  God 
will  account  for  all  natural  wonders. 

Can  as  much  be  said  in  favor  of  the  hypothesis 
of  construction  by  law  ?  Is  its  adequacy  intuitively 
certain  ?  Or  has  that  adequacy  been  rigorously 
demonstrated,  level  to  the  apprehension  of  all  the 
world  ?  No  one  claims  it.  No  one  dares  to  claim 
it.  Great  effort  has  been  made.  Great  in Annuity 
has  done  its  best.  Years  of  argument  have  piled 
themselves  on  years,  and  still  the  argument  rages. 
With  what  result  ?  The  great  majority  of  think- 
ing men  are  as  unconvinced  as  ever.  They  do  not 
even  find  a  modest  probability  in  the  scheme  so 
laboriously  commended  to  them.  And  even  its 
best  friends  hardly  presume  to  call  their  own  ar- 
guments a  proof,  much  less  a  demonstration,  much 
less  still  a  demonstration  that  can  be  universally 
seen  to  be  such.  A  certain  amount  of  philosophic 
credibility,  or,  at  the  most,  probability,  is  all  that 
such  men  seem  to  themselves  to  have  accomplished 
by  their  long  and  intricate  dealings  in  behalf  of 
spontaneous  generation  and  transmutation  of  spe- 
cies by  natural  development ;  while  to  most  per- 
sons the  whole  scheme  is  a  hopeless  fog-bank  — 
very  picturesquely  constructed  perhaps,  and  dis- 
playing not  a  few  showy  battlements  and  pinnacles 


SUREST.  269 

and  prismatics  —  but  still  mere  unsubstantial  and 
uncertain  air-castles,  liable  to  change  shape  and 
even  disappear  at  any  moment.  And  yet,  to  put 
their  scheme  on  as  good  footing  as  the  Theistic,  its 
ability  to  explain  Nature  must  be  made  a  matter  of 
absolute  and  immeasurable  certainty  to  the  gaze  of 
all  plainest  understandings.  For,  from  sunrise  to 
sunset,  and  round  to  sunrise  again,  there  is  not  a 
person  capable  of  understanding  the  proposition 
who  does  not  know,  to  absolute  perfection,  that  an 
Infinite  Person  could  produce  with  perfect  ease  the 
noblest  and  all  things  that  make  up  the  beauty  and 
majesty  of  Nature.  It  is  as  much  an  axiom  to  the 
child  and  the  savage  as  it  is  to  the  sage.  So  a 
heavy  demand  is  made  on  the  friends  of  the  law 
scheme.  It  is  not  enough,  should  we  find  ourselves 
unable  to  prove  positively  that  this  scheme  is  insuf- 
ficient to  explain  Nature  :  its  friends  must  show  to 
utter  certainty  that  it  is  sufficient,  and  show  it  to 
the  complete  satisfaction  of  all  respectable  inquirers. 
A  hugely  contested  probability,  timidly  accepted  as 
such  by  a  few  respectable  reasoners,  will  not  answer. 
Euclid  himself  must  not  be  more  conclusive,  nor 
his  axioms  plainer.  To  secure  this,  all  the  parts, 
scores  in  number,  of  the  very  complex  scheme,  must 
be  put  on  the  footing  of  geometrical  axioms.  You 
must  do  it  for  all  parts  of  the  cosmical  argument. 
You  must  do  it  for  all  parts  of  the  physiological 
argument  —  for  the  spontaneous  generation,  for  the 
transmutation  of  species,  for  the  development  of  the 


270  EIGHTH  LECTURE. 

oyster  into  the  Newton.  Not  a  single  point  in  the 
voluminous  scheme  must  be  left  to  rest  on  mere 
probability.  Should  absolute  demonstration  halt  at 
a  single  one  of  these  points,  or  at  any  one  of  them 
fail  to  flash  conviction  like  a  sun  on  the  most  limited 
of  sound  understandings  that  chances  to  glance 
thither,  the  whole  hypothesis  would  break  down  as 
a  demonstration.  Of  course  such  a  Cesarean,  all- 
conquering  proof,  is  not  only  unaccomplished,  but 
unaccomplishable.  Not  an  instance  of  it  can  be 
found  in  the  whole  kingdom  of  logic. 

A  man  who,  reduced  to  choose  between  two  sec- 
ular hypotheses  in  other  respects  equal,  should 
choose  the  one  whose  adequacy  to  account  for  the 
facts  is,  almost  unboundedly,  the  most  questionable, 
would  not  be  considered  the  wrisest  of  men.  Sup- 
pose you  meet  an  English  friend  in  yonder  street. 
"  How  came  you  here  ?  "  you  exclaim.  He  informs 
you  that  he  came  either  by  steamer  or  by  artificial 
wings.  Have  you  any  difficulty  in  choosing  be- 
tween the  two  explanations  ?  You  can  decide  the 
case  swift  as  the  flashing  light,  and  with  the  mo- 
mentum of  a  planet.  And  why  not  ?  You  certainly 
know,  as  does  everybody,  that  a  steamer  is  adequate 
to  bring  the  man  across  the  Atlantic  ;  but  you  do 
not  certainly  know  that  artificial  wings  can  do  such 
a  feat.  Very  far  from  it.  What  you  know  is  that 
the  possibility  of  such  a  mode  of  transit  for  men  is 
extremely  doubtful,  to  say  the  least.  Some  ingen- 
ious things  can  be  said  in  its  favor  —  witness  Ras- 


MOST  SALUTARY  AND  SAFE.  271 

selas  —  but  to  most  persons  the  very  idea  is  very 
ridiculous,  and  to  none  is  it  mora  than  plausible. 
So  you  have  not  a  shadow  of  hesitation.  Instanta- 
neously, your  mind  flashes  its  decision.  Between 
the  hypothesis  whose  adequacy  is  perfectly  certain, 
and  the  hypothesis  whose  adequacy  is,  to  say  the 
least,  extremely  uncertain,  you  have  no  occasion  to 
linger.  You  take  the  immeasurably  surer  hypothe- 
sis immediately  and  as  a  matter  of  course.  Your 
friend  did  not,  Daedalus  like,  transfer  himself  across 
the  seas  by  means  of  a  pair  of  wings  deftly  fastened 
to  his  shoulders. 

The  Theistic  Hypothesis  is  greatly  the  most  sal- 
utary and  safe  —  salutary  for  the  preswt  life,  and 
safe  as  to  another. 

It  is  easy  to  see  that  the  recognition  of  a  God, 
carrying  with  it,  as  experience  shows  it  generally  if 
not  always  will,  a  recognition  of  His  righteous  gov- 
ernment —  certainly  of  the  possibility  of  it  —  has 
greater  tendency  to  restrain  from  misconduct  and 
to  stimulate  to  virtue  than  has  atheism.  This  from 
the  nature  of  the  case.  And  experience  accords. 
It  lies  on  the  very  surface  of  life  and  history  that 
Theism  is  better  than  atheism  for  the  character, 
the  happiness,  and  the  general  outward  prosperity 
of  communities  and  families  and  individuals.  Such 
has  been  the  teaching  of  my  own  observation  and 
reading  on  this  point,  that  I  am  free  to  say  that  I 
had  rather  have  my  child  worship  in  faith  some  re- 
spectable Brahma  or  fetich  than  to  have  him  alto- 


272  EIGHTH  LECTURE. 

gether  without  a  God.  So  felt  the  ancients,  though 
with  but  a  small  part  of  our  experience.  Plato 
would  have  atheists  exported  far  from  his  republic 
as  being  a  public  danger.  He  would  have  their 
children  taken  from  them,  and  brought  up  as  orphans 
at  the  public  charge.  And  the  words  of  Cicero  to 
the  same  effect  have  become  famous.  "  That  such 
views  are  useful  and  necessary,  who  will  deny,  when 
he  reflects  how  many  things  must  be  confirmed  by 
an  oath,  how  much  safety  there  is  in  those  religious 
rites  that  pertain  to  the  solemnization  of  contracts, 
how  many  the  fear  of  Divine  punishment  keeps 
back  from  crime ;  in  short,  how  sacred  and  holy  a 
thing  society  becomes  when  the  immortal  gods 
are  constantly  presented  both  as  judges  and  wit- 
nesses." So  spake  classic  antiquity.  And  modern 
times,  with  their  larger  scope,  venture  to  speak 
still  more  strongly.  To  them  Theism  is  like  a  cer- 
tain geode  but  recently  found.  To  them  Theism  is 
like  a  certain  flower  just  now  becoming  naturalized 
in  our  conservatories.  The  stone  was  broken,  and 
lo,  it  was  lined  with  beautiful  crystals,  and  in  the 
heart  of  that  rich  casket  a  still  richer  crystal  in  the 
form  of  a  cross !  Some  delicate  petals  of  the  Flos 
Sancti  Spiritus  are  drawn  aside,  and  lo,  nestled  in 
that  fragrant  bosom,  looks  forth  what  seems  a  milk- 
white  dove !  Such  are  the  contents  and  implica- 
tions of  Theism  —  things  most  fair  and  wonderful 
to  see.  Behold  altars  and  homes  and  common- 
wealths—  behold  orders,  proprieties,  safeties,  phi- 


MOST  SALUTARY  AND  SAFE.  273 

lanthropies,  steadfast  consciences,  regulated  free- 
doms, and  durable  civilizations  —  behold  usefulness 
and  happiness  and  hope  and  virtue  in  their  most 
snowy  and  effulgent  forms  —  behold,  as  I  think,  the 
Cross  and  the  Holy  Ghost !  All  these  are  seminally 
contained  in  the  Doctrine  of  God.  It  travails  in 
birth  with  these  for  all  the  worlds. 

Whichever  hypothesis  is  honestly  accepted  will 
be  measurably  acted  on.  If  that  of  a  God  is  ac- 
cepted, experience  shows  that  with  it,  in  general  if 
not  always,  will  be  accepted  His  character  as  a 
righteous  moral  Governor.  Supposing  men  to  act 
on  the  supposition  of  such  a  God,  it  is  certain  that 
no  grave  harm  will  come  of  the  action  in  any  event, 
while  it  may  open  on  the  soul  the  gates  of  eternal 
life.  But  if  men  act  on  the  supposition  of  No-God, 
they  may  be  ruined  remedilessly  in  case  there  is 
such  a  Being.  Nearly  all  theists  claim  it  will  be 
so  :  a  very  plausible  revelation  affirms  and  reaffirms 
the  claim  in  the  most  positive  manner.  And  cer- 
tainly, very  severe  results  are  by  no  means  improb- 
able. For,  if  there  is  a  God,  it  is  exceedingly  im- 
portant that  men  should  know  it ;  and  if  He  is 
righteous  —  as  certainly  is  not  improbable  —  He 
greatly  desires  them  to  know  it,  and  has  given  them 
suitable  means  for  knowing,  and  so  will  be  severelv 
displeased  with  their  atheism. 

It  would  obviously  be  irrational  to  choose  the 
least  useful  and  safe  of  two  hypotheses  in  other 
respects  equal.  No  man  in  his  senses  would  advise 
18 


274  EIGHTH  LECTURE. 

such  a  step  in  secular  matters.  It  would  be  alike 
an  insult  to  interest  and  to  truth.  I  say,  it  would 
be  a  libel  and  outrage  on  truth  —  that  Divine  prin- 
ciple which  is  only  inferior  in  beauty  and  majesty 
to  virtue  itself,  and  which  is  universally  allowed  to 
deserve  the  love  and  homage  of  mankind.  Useful- 
ness and  safety  are  near  of  kin  to  truth.  They  are 
its  natural  associates.  Where  they  are  found  truth 
is  likely  to  be  found.  They  are  the  surface  indica- 
tions of  the  gold  mine  —  the  Geology  that  divines 
of  it  so  strongly  that  men  hopefully  gather  great 
capital  about  the  spot  where  trembles  her  rod,  and 
set  to  work.  If  observation  shows  anything,  it  is 
that  the  most  salutary  and  safe  course  is  usually  the 
one  accommodated  to  fact :  and  indeed  such  a 
course  cannot  in  general  be  that  which  is  accommo- 
dated to  a  falsehood.  From  the  nature  of  the  case, 
courses  accommodated  to  a  falsehood,  and  so  in  pos- 
itive conflict  with  the  real  nature  and  relations  of 
things,  must  in  general  be  attended  with  more  diffi- 
culty, expense,  and  damage  than  those  in  harmony 
with  such  nature  and  relations. 

The  Theistic  Hypothesis  is  greatly  the  fairest  and 
sullimest. 

Other  things  being  equal,  the  fairest  and  sub- 
limest  hypothesis  has  the  best  claim  on  us  —  on  our 
faith  as  well  as  on  our  affections.  It  has  most  the 
aspect  of  a  truth. 

Soul  —  whether  regarded  as  an  immaterial  sub- 
stance, or  simply  as  the  sum  of  certain  qualities 


SUBLIMEST.  275 

occasionally  found  in  connection  with  certain  or- 
ganic forms  —  soul,  with  its  will,  feeling,  intelli- 
gence, and  capacities  for  happiness  and  virtue,  is 
universally  felt  by  thinking  men  to  he  the  highest 
as  well  as  the  most  mysterious  sort  of  known 
being.  Not  the  grandest  masses  of  matter ;  such 
as  mountains,  oceans,  stars  — not  the  most  subtle 
and  forceful  material  elements  ;  such,  for  example, 
as  produce  the  phenomena  of  light,  electricity, 
and  gravitation  —  not  any  conceivable  combination 
of  such  elements,  can  compare  in  wonderfulness 
and  nobleness  with  the  soul  of  a  Newton.  Much 
less  can  any  conceivable  combination  of  such  causes 
compare  in  these  respects  with  an  Eternal  and  es- 
sentially Infinite  Soul  that  devises  and  produces  all 
natural  organisms,  and  is  capable  of  governing 
them  and  all  things  with  infinite  wisdom  and  good- 
ness. If,  in  addition,  we  suppose  this  great  Being 
crowned  with  the  glories  of  an  infinite  and  ever- 
lasting actual  felicity  and  virtue  —  as  we  are  enti- 
tled to  do  for  aught  that  appears  to  the  contrary 
—  a  goodness  efflorescing  into  every  imaginable 
beauty  of  hue  and  form ;  a  goodness  bathing  the 
whole  Divine  Nature  in  the  rosy  lights  of  an  un- 
utterable tenderness  and  mercy  and  love,  whose 
warm  floods  overflow  to  the  remotest  terms  of  the 
creation,  and  insure  to  it  the  utmost  possible  meas- 
ure of  blessed  results  —  what  shall  we  say  of  such 
an  Object  ?  It  makes  the  heart  leap  to  look  toward 
it.  Never  such  a  scene  blushed  under  eye  of  trav- 


276  EIGHTH  LECTURE. 

eler  or  pencil  of  master  —  never  such  sumptuaus 
palace  or  cathedral  reared  its  wilderness  of  comeli- 
ness and  majesty  on  the  sight  or  dreams  of  men  — 
never  such  mountain-range  gathered  clouds  and 
rainbows  about  its  brow  and  blossomed  o'er  all  its 
mighty  sides  with  the  beauties  of  every  clime  — 
never  such  central  sun  blazed  and  triumphed  and 
governed  amid  its  coronet  of  rejoicing  worlds  !  O 
wonderful  Vision,  O  Colossus  of  perfection,  O 
worthy  and  worshipful  Emperor  of  Nature,  O  fair- 
est and  sublimest  Idea  in  the  whole  empire  of 
thought !  One  may  well  be  excused  for  preferring, 
other  things  being  equal,  such  an  hypothesis  as  this. 
It  has  the  most  claim  upon  him.  What  should  we 
think  of  a  man  who,  being  reduced  to  choose  be- 
tween two  hypotheses  equal  in  every  other  respect, 
should  choose  the  meanest  and  hardest-favored  of 
the  two  ?  It  were  an  insult  to  truth.  It  would  do 
violence  to  the  subtle  instincts  and  proprieties  of 
Nature.  It  would  affront  the  "  beautiful  and  fit- 
ting "  of  science. 

The  Theistic  Hypothesis  is  greatly  the  most  in 
accordance  with  the  convictions  and  traditions  of 
mankind,  especially  of  the  most  enlightened  and 
moral  part  of  mankind. 

You  could  almost  count  up  on  your  fingers  the 
men  who,  leaving  the  attitude  of  mere  doubters, 
have  come  to  positively  affirm  and  positively  believe 
that  Nature  was  actually  produced  in  conformity 
with  the  law  hypothesis.  On  the  other  hand, 


ACCORD    WITH   TRADITION.  277 

those  who  so  positively  and  firmly  believe  in  the 
Divine  origin  of  Nature  that  they  could  freely  die 
for  their  faith  are  almost  innumerable.  I  would  like 
to  see  the  man  who  could  die  for  the  law  hy- 
pothesis !  —  Further,  the  Divine  origin  of  Nature  is 
the  strong  popular  faith  of  whole  nations  and  gen- 
erations, constituting  the  most  intelligent  and  best- 
behaved  part  of  the  race.  Much  of  this  faith,  in- 
deed, is  not  that  of  martyrs  ;  but  most  of  it  is  a 
faith  that  shudders  at  the  very  name  of  atheist,  and 
at  the  very  idea  of  a  godless  universe.  And  the 
Jews,  the  Christians,  the  Mohammedans,  the  Hin- 
doos with  their  affiliated  races  —  to  say  nothing  of 
smaller  peoples  —  the  believing  nations  covered  by 
these  names  include  in  their  mighty  circumference 
nearly  all  the  science  and  civilization  and  semi-civil- 
ization and  respectable  morals  the  world  can  boast. 
—  Further,  the  whole  body  of  mankind,  past  and 
present,  with  a  few  trifling  exceptions,  firmly  be- 
lieve in  at  least  one  Great  Intelligence  of  a  grade 
indefinitely  superior  to  the  human  and  worthy  of 
worship.  Every  nation  has  some  divinity.  There 
is  no  country  without  temples,  altars,  priests.  In 
all  climates,  under  all  governments,  through  all 
stages  of  society  from  the  most  barbaric  to  the  most 
cultivated,  man  humbles  himself  before  great  in- 
visible personal  powers.  The  traveler  into  unex- 
plored countries  about  as  much  expects  to  find  them 
supplied  with  deities  as  he  expects  to  find  them  sup- 
plied with  men.  The  traveler  into  distant  ages, 


278  EIGHTH  LECTURE. 

whatever  direction  he  takes,  about  as  much  expects 
to  find  men  worshipping  as  he  does  to  find  them 
eating  and  drinking.  Whether  Livingstone  or  Hum- 
boldt  —  he  encounters  the  supernatural  at  every 
step.  Whether  Niebuhr  or  Muratori  —  at  every 
step  he  meets  the  immemorial  traditions  of  the  su- 
pernatural descending  upon  him  like  Amazons  from 
every  point  of  the  compass.  The  cultus  is  every- 
where. And  whether  it  points  at  the  fetich,  or  the 
idol,  or  the  star,  or  the  Grand  Lama,  or  Brahma, 
or  Boodh,  or  Odin,  or  Osiris,  or  Jupiter,  or  Allah,  or 
Jehovah  —  it  expresses  the  faith  of  all  nations  and 
ages  in  at  least  one  Great  Superhuman  Intelligence 
who  holds  sanctuary  within  such  holy  names,  be- 
fore whose  power  and  wisdom  the  greatest  of  men 
should  uncover,  and  from  whose  undefined  and 
dreamy  greatness  one  should  not  be  surprised  to 
see  issuing  any  conceivable  wonders.  I  use  univer- 
sal language.  It  is  because  the  dissenters  from  this 
generic  Theism  are  so  few  as  to  be  absolutely  inap- 
preciable in  the  presence  of  the  empires  and  conti- 
nents and  generations  who  hold  it  with  a  profound 
and  ineradicable  faith. 

What  means  this  great  Plebiscitum  ?  What 
means  this  universal  faith  in  at  least  one  Worshipful 
Superhuman  Intelligence — this  chain  of  such  faiths 
stretching  away  back  into  the  mists  of  history  and 
even  the  adyta  of  primeval  tradition  —  this  chain 
ever  expanding  toward  Christian  Theism  as  it 
passes  through  the  more  enlightened  times  and 


ACCORD   WITH  TRADITION.  279 

lands  ?  If  any  man  says  that  it  means  nothing,  or 
that  it  does  not  flex  itself  significantly  in  the  direc- 
tion of  God,  my  eyes  dilate  upon  him  with  astonish- 
ment. Is  he  serious  ?  Does  he  mean  what  he  says  ? 
It  cannot  be  denied  that  universal  and  very  an- 
cient beliefs  have  sometimes  proved  false  ;  but  still 
it  is  acknowledged  in  practical  life  that  they  are 
generally  true,  and  are  always  to  be  accepted  as 
true  in  the  absence  of  all  positive  evidence  to  the 
contrary.  For  example,  if  it  should  be  the  univer- 
sal speech  in  this  community  that  a  certain  person 
is  dishonest,  one  would  not,  anterior  to  a  thorough 
investigation,  trust  him  as  quickly  as  though  there 
were  no  such  common  fame  ;  especially  if  that  com- 
mon fame  had  existed  for  many  years,  and  was  fully 
indorsed  by  his  most  intimate  acquaintances  — 
proving  that  it  is  viewed  as  of  the  nature  of  evi- 
dence. It  is  possible  that  the  man  has  been  belied, 
for  many  instances  of  such  belying  have  been 
proved  ;  but  still  that  universal  faith  against  him 
is  one  of  the  adverse  probabilities  needing  to  be  off- 
setted  and  overcome  by  other  probabilities.  In  the 
absence  of  all  discoverable  positive  evidence  to  the 
contrary,  the  universal  and  stable  belief  would  be 
considered  decisive  against  the  man  for  all  practical 
purposes,  and  ought  to  be  so  considered.  Is  there 
any  positive  evidence  that  there  are  no  superhuman 
intelligences?  On  the  contrary,  are  they  not 
rather  favored  by  the  fact  of  numerous  orders  of 
living  beings  below  us  in  a  long  line  of  gradation 


280  EIGHTH  LECTURE. 

down  to  microscopic  life  ?  What  authority  has  man 
for  saying  that  the  long  line  in  its  ascent  ends  with 
himself,  or  ends  anywhere  short  of  a  Being  of  in- 
finite proportions  as  compared  with  ourselves  ? 

Further,  there  cannot  be  shown  an  instance  of 
dateless  and  universal  belief  which  has  maintained 
its  ground  without  abatement  amid  all  advances  of 
knowledge  and  morals,  and  which  has  even  been 
enhanced  by  such  advances,  proving  false.  The 
false  belief  that  the  sun  moves  around  the  earth 
was  universal  at  one  time ;  but  as  knowledge  in- 
creased this  sort  of  astronomy  weakened  and  passed 
away.  The  false  belief  in  astrology,  in  the  Junar 
influence  on  the  weather,  is  very  ancient,  and  has 
had  almost  universal  acceptance ;  but  it  has  faded 
before  advancing  intelligence.  The  false  belief  that 
it  is  lawful  to  worship  many  deities,  and  to  repre- 
sent deity  under  material  forms,  was  for  ages  well- 
nigh  universal ;  but  wherever  at  any  time  knowl- 
edge and  character  have  improved,  polytheism  and 
idolatry  have  shown  tendency  to  decline.  See,  for 
proof,  the  French  Positivists.  But  French  Posi- 
tivists  were  hardly  needed  to  prove  this  to  any 
moderate  reader  of  history.  The  chief  Greek  and 
Roman  philosophers  seem  to  have  always  lived  on 
or  within  the  verge  of  Monotheism,  spiritual  Mono- 
theism ;  and  the  more  learned  and  better  class  of 
Brahmins  at  the  present  time,  when  drawn  into  ex- 
planations, take  up  very  much  the  same  position.  — 
On  the  other  hand,  this  dateless  and  universal  be- 


ACCORD   WITH  TRADITION.  281 

lief  in  at  least  one  Superhuman  and  Worshipful  In- 
telligence has  not  been  injured  anywhere  by  a  com- 
bined advance  in  knowledge  and  character ;  but 
the  reverse.  The  Mohammedan  nations,  as  such, 
believe  as  strongly  as  the  pagan  —  the  Christian 
nations,  as  such,  as  strongly  as  the  Moslem  —  the 
most  advanced  Christian  nations  as  strongly  as  the 
least  advanced.  So  far,  indeed,  from  this  belief 
declining  with  advancing  intelligence  and  virtue, 
it  shows  in  such  case  a  general  tendency  toward  a 
more  refined  and  stupendous  Theism.  Osiris,  Ju- 
piter, and  Brahma,  are  far  greater  deities  than  any 
worshipped  by  African  or  South  Sea  savages  —  the 
Theos  and  Deus  of  such  philosophers  as  Socrates, 
Plato,  Cicero,  Seneca,  far  greater  than  the  popular 
Jupiter  —  Allah  and  Jehovah  far  greater  than  the 
divinity  of  Plato's  speculations  —  even  Jehovah 
as  conceived  by  the  cultured  and  saintly  Christian 
is  a  far  more  glorious  object  than  the  average  Jeho- 
vah of  Christian  lands.  In  such  lands  those  com- 
munities which  are  the  most  eminent  for  intelli- 
gence and  excellent  living  are  also  most  noted  for 
both  the  strength  and  quality  of  their  faith  in  the 
supernatural.  See  that  swearing,  swindling,  drink- 
ing, gambling,  dissolute,  and  ignorant  frontier  set- 
tlement !  Which  has  the  strongest  and  highest  faith 
in  the  supernatural  —  that,  or  yonder  cultured  and 
virtuous  New  England  village  !  See  that  good  man 
of  to-day  !  Make  sure  that  when,  twenty  years 
hence,  he  has  become  a  still  better  man  —  more  sol- 


282  EIGHTH  LECTURE. 

idly  principled,  more  strictly  conscientious,  more  loft- 
ily just,  more  tenderly  and  actively  benevolent  — 
his  faith  in  God  will  stand  on  a  still  broader  base  and 
pierce  the  heavens  with  a  still  loftier  apex.  It  is 
simple  experience.  Never  stood  pyramid  more  sta- 
bly and  sublimely  than  stood  the  faith  of  Sir  Da- 
vid Brewster  at  the  age  of  fourscore  and  seven  — 
a  faith  that  had  grown  through  the  long  years  as 
fast  as  his  ever-growing  intelligence  and  goodness. 

Look  at  it.  A  dateless  and  universal  belief  in 
at  least  one  Great  Intelligence  of  a  grade  indefi- 
nitely superior  to  the  human  —  whence  came  this 
mighty  epidemic  ?  Did  it  spring  naturally  from  a 
low  moral  and  intellectual  condition  of  the  race  at 
large  —  as  fevers  and  ignesfatui  do  from  marshes 
—  or  from  the  selfish  efforts  of  governments  and 
incipient  priesthoods  ;  or  from  both  ?  Either  ori- 
gin would  be  inconsistent  with  the  fact  that  a  com- 
bined advance  in  knowledge  and  morals  is  found  to 
affect  the  faith  favorably.  Did  it  spring  from  the 
evident  profitableness  of  the  faith  in  the  sight  of  all 
mankind  ?  This  were  strongly  in  its  favor  as  being 
true.  Did  it  spring  from  the  fact  that  it  is  intrin- 
sically and  universally  palatable,  if  not  profitable  ? 
Who  can  say  that  ?  No-Religion  makes  no  exac- 
tions whatever  :  the  easiest  religion  known  to  men 
makes  great  exactions,  and  makes  them  constantly. 
Self-restraint  and  sacrifice  are  the  common  and 
statute  law  of  every  religious  system.  Not  a  wor- 
ship but  includes  endless  expenses,  labors,  cares, 


ACCORD   WITH  TRADITION.  283 

and  fears.  Codes  of  regulations  must  be  carefully 
studied  out,  and  watchfully  conformed  to.  Pil- 
grimages, penances,  works  from  the  twelve  labors 
of  Hercules  downward,  must  be  accepted.  Tem- 
ples must  be  built,  altars  fed,  costly  rites  main- 
tained, priesthoods  supported.  In  fine,  to  mere  na- 
ture, a  religion  is  a  cramping  formula  for  this 
world ;  while  it  offers  for  another  world  only  what, 
according  to  the  atheistic  theory,  a  man  is  equally 
at  liberty  to  expect  without  a  God.  So  it  would 
seem  to  be  intrinsically  an  unpopular  system.  That 
such  a  system  could  have  fought  its  way  from  noth- 
ing into  virtually  universal  acceptance,  ;md  main- 
tained itself  there  unfalteringly  from  immemorial 
antiquity  to  the  present,  without  any  real  support 
from  either  the  reason,  the  experience,  or  the  inter- 
est of  mankind  —  could  even  have  brightened  and 
ascended  with  advancing  knowledge  and  morals, 
and  all  as  the  product  of  the  hideous  incubation  of 
wickedness  upon  general  ignorance  and  wickedness 
—  is,  to  say  the  least,  far  from  being  a  plain  matter. 
It  has  a  strong  look  of  incredibility.  It  savors 
mightily  of  self-contradiction.  Plainly,  it  would 
take  more  argument  than  most  minds  can  compass 
to  give  even  plausibility  to  such  an  explanation. 
As  to  demonstrating  its  adequacy,  such  a  thing  is 
out  of  the  question.  The  very  idea  is  absurd. 
But  if  we  suppose  a  primeval  revelation  of  God  ; 
that  the  doctrine  wras  gradually  lowered  and  cor- 
rupted to  a  great  extent  by  the  moral  and  intellect- 


284  EIGHTH  LECTURE. 

ual  lapses  of  the  race ;  that  nevertheless  it  com- 
mended itself  so  mightily  to  their  fundamental 
instincts,  essential  reason,  and  great  wants  that 
even  such  potent  sources  of  error  could  never  quite 
overpower  it  among  any  considerable  body  of  man- 
kind ;  and  that,  just  as  soon  as  these  incubi  are 
lifted,  the  elastic  and  irrepressible  doctrine  proceeds 
to  expand  toward  its  normal  and  original  grandeur 
—  I  say,  if  we  suppose  this,  we  have  an  explana- 
tion of  the  general  faith  in  worshipful  superhuman 
beings,  and  of  its  obvious  partiality  for  intelligence 
and  virtue,  which  is  perfectly  natural  and  perfectly 
sufficient ;  intuitively  so.  The  adequacy  of  the  ex- 
planation is  perfectly  axiomatic.  Not  a  word  need 
be  said  in  its  defense.  Especially  in  view  of  the 
fact  that  all  the  most  eminent  mythologists  of  the 
present  day  are  agreed  in  the  opinion  that  Mono- 
theism lies'  at  the  foundation  of  all  pagan  mythol- 
ogy- 
No  one  who  in  these  times  and  lands  admits 

wonderfully  superhuman  beings,  but  will  go  further, 
and  admit  a  God.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  those  who 
admit  them  do  invariably  admit  a  true  God.  And 
it  ought  to  be  so.  For  this  admission  takes  away, 
on  the  one  hand,  the  only  serious  appearance  of  an 
objection  to  a  God,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  vastly 
intensifies  the  difficulty  of  accounting  for  Nature 
without  Him ;  indeed,  makes  such  an  account  im- 
possible, if  we  may  trust  the  mathematical  doctrine 
of  chances.  The  only  apparent  objection  to  a  God 


ACCORD  WITH  TRADITION.  285 

that  has  much  weight  with  most  persons,  is  His  fail- 
ure to  manifest  Himself  in  overwhelming  appeal  to 
our  senses  and  experience  ;  and  this  objection  is 
recognized  as  invalid  just  as  soon  as  one  admits  any 
invisible  intelligences  above  man  who  mingle  in  hu- 
man affairs.  And,  too,  just  as  soon  as  one  admits 
such  intelligences  vastly  above  man  and  yet  not 
eternal,  he  has  introduced  into  the  begun  Nature 
that  needs  to  be  accounted  for  a  new  element  of 
difficulty  vastly  greater  than  any  it  before  con- 
tained. If  it  is  somewhat  hard  to  understand  and 
show  how  blind  causes  can  produce  an  intelligent 
man,  it  must  be  vastly  harder  to  understand  and 
show  how  such  causes  can  produce  an  Intelligence 
vastly  superior  to  man  and  able  to  make  a  man.  In 
fact,  the  mathematics  of  chances  forbids  our  at- 
tempting to  account  for  Nature  by  blind  causes 
after  the  admission  of  such  a  Being.  La  Place 
states  the  following  law.  The  probability  that  an 
eifect  is  produced  by  any  one  of  given  things  is  as 
the  antecedent  probability  of  that  thing,  multiplied 
by  the  probability  that,  if  it  existed,  it  would  have 
produced  the  effect.  Now,  in  the  case  before  us, 
one  agent  is  admitted  as  existing  and  able  to  pro- 
duce the  effect.  To  get  the  entire  probability  that 
it  actually  produced  the  effect,  we  must  multiply 
certainty  by  the  probability  that,  if  existent,  it 
would  actually  have  produced  the  effect.  Now  the 
latter  probability  is  certainly  greater  than  the  prob- 
ability that  a  competing  blind  cause,  if  existent, 


286  EIGHTH  LECTURE. 

would  have  produced  it.  It  certainly  is  more  likely 
that,  of  two  causes,  the  one  blind  and  the  other  in- 
telligent, the  intelligent  was  the  author  of  an  intel- 
ligent being  or  even  of  the  human  body.  We 
know  multitudes  of  organisms  produced  by  intelli- 
gent beings,  and  not  one  certainly  produced  by 
blind  causes. 

Such  is  the  Theistic  hypothesis  as  compared  with 
its  sole  rival.  While  perfectly  sufficient,  and,  to 
say  the  least,  a  priori  as  credible  as  any,  it  is  greatly 
the  simplest ;  the  surest ;  the  sublimest ;  the  safest ; 
the  most  salutary  ;  and  the  most  in  accordance  with 
the  convictions  and  traditions  of  mankind,  especially 
of  the  most  enlightened  and  moral  part  of  mankind. 
In  each  of  these  respects  it  has  almost  infinitely  the 
advantage  over  the  law  hypothesis.  And,  accord- 
ing to  the  maxims  and  practice  of  philosophy  in 
other  things,  such  an  aggregate  superiority  as  this 
ought  to  cause  the  Doctrine  of  a  God  to  be  promptly 
accepted  and  fully  rested  on  as  the  true  explanation 
of  Nature.  Whatever  secular  hypothesis  could  claim 
as  much  would  be  accepted  without  hesitation  by 
all  impartial  men.  It  would  be  considered  triumph- 
antly established.  To  oppose  it  would  be  consid- 
ered altogether  absurd.  And  no  man  of  science, 
with  a  reputation  to  lose,  would  for  one  moment 
think  of  venturing  on  opposition.  On  the  contrary, 
an  hypothesis  so  strongly  fortified  with  verisimili- 
tudes and  superiorities  over  all  competitors  would 
ascend  the  throne  of  faith,  and  robe  itself  in  the 


TOTAL  SCIENTIFIC  IMPORT.  287 

purple  of  all  her  prerogatives,  by  unanimous  accla- 
mation of  the  Baconian  philosophy,  of  scientific 
usage,  and  of  the  entire  college  of  scholarly  men. 

After  the  painting  has  been  found  pervaded  with 
Titian's  characteristics,  you  have  only  to  observe 
that,  as  compared  with  other  hypotheses  in  regard 
to  its  origin,  that  which  attributes  it  to  Titian  is  by 
far  the  simplest,  the  surest,  the  fairest,  and  alto- 
gether in  accord  with  the  convictions  and  traditions, 
especially  of  the  best  judges  —  I  say,  you  have  only 
to  observe  this  in  order  to  receive  it  cordially  as  the 
work  of  that  old  master.  If  able,  you  will  give 
your  thousands  for  it,  on  the  strength  of  your  con- 
victions. 

You  believe  that  Canova  made  that  statue,  An- 
gelo  that  cathedral,  Herodotus  that  history.  A 
neighbor  has  chosen  to  say  that  each  of  these  won- 
ders was  made  by  a  mollusk.  This  is  his  hypothe- 
sis. Another  has  chosen  to  say  that  each  of  these 
wonders  was  made  by  the  great  artist  whose  name 
it  bears.  This  is  his  hypothesis.  Why  do  you  ac- 
cept this  last  in  preference  to  the  other  ?  Have  you 
made  out  formal  proof  that  the  oyster  cannot  make 
such  wonderful  things  —  that  though  inert-looking 
things  are  sometimes  found  possessed  of  prodigious 
power,  an  oyster  could  by  110  possibility  ever  have 
wrought  that  shapely  Venus,  or  swelled  that  sur- 
prising dome,  or  penned  that  immortal  volume? 
Nothing  of  the  kind.  You  do  not  deem  such  proof 
necessary.  It  is  enough  for  you  that  the  hypothe- 


288  EIGHTH  LECTURE. 

sis  which  attributes  St.  Peter's  to  Michael  Angelo 
is  on  its  face  altogether  reasonable,  that  it  has  in  its 
favor  the  whole  current  of  tradition  ;  while,  as  com- 
pared with  the  only  competing  hypothesis,  it  is  al- 
most infinitely  the  simplest,  and  surest  as  to  ade- 
quacy. You  have  no  occasion  to  inquire  any  fur- 
ther. It  does  not  even  occur  to  you  to  do  it  — 
cautious  Baconian  though  you  are.  In  common 
with  the  whole  art-world,  you  instinctively  accept 
and  rely  upon  the  great  Florentine  with  unlimited 
boldness.  The  mollusk  explanation  is  paraded  be- 
fore you  in  all  sorts  of  ingenious  verbal  magnificence 
and  logical  forms  without  making  the  slightest  im- 
pression on  you.  There  is  not  a  quaver  in  your 
faith.  It  not  only  occupies  you,  but  reigns  —  not 
only  reigns,  but  reigns  indisputably. 

So  reigns  to-day  the  Newtonian  hypothesis  of 
gravity.  It  is  everywhere  supreme  — in  the  books, 
in  the  schools,  in  the  innermost  convictions  of  all 
intelligent  men.  Nothing  moves  wing,  or  opens 
mouth,  or  peeps  against  it.  And  yet  do  we  see  the 
principle  of  gravity  ?  Not  at  all.  Have  we  proved 
by  experience  that  each  particle  of  matter,  away  to 
the  universe's  last  outskirt,  attracts  every  other 
particle  with  a  force  proportioned  directly  to  its  own 
quantity  of  matter  and  inversely  to  the  square  of 
the  distance  between  the  particles  ?  Not  at  all. 
Has  it  ever  been  demonstrated  that  the  vortices  of 
Descartes,  or  even  the  crystal  machinery  of  Hip- 
parchus  and  Ptolemy,  cannot  be  so  amended  and  ap- 


TOTAL  SCIENTIFIC  IMPORT.  289 

pendixed  as  to  explain  all  the  astronomical  motions 
thus  far  known  ?  Not  at  all.  Whence,  then,  that 
triumphant  acceptance  of  the  Newtonian  principle 
and  law  of  gravity  ?  Simply  from  its  superior 
merits  as  an  hypothesis.  Newton  started  a  bare 
supposition.  It  was  found  to  explain  fact  after 
fact.  It  kept  on  explaining.  It  has  gone  on  up  to 
the  present  time  triumphantly  explaining,  in  fields 
so  broad,  in  fields  so  various,  in  fields  so  numerous 
and  high,  that  our  confidence  in  its  power  to  ex- 
plain the  whole  round  of  astronomical  motions  is 
quite  complete.  We  deem  it  perfectly  sufficient. 
Besides,  while,  to  say  the  least,  as  credible  on  its 
face  as  the  ancient  Alexandrian  or  the  modern 
French  hypothesis,  it  is  vastly  simpler,  surer,  fairer, 
and  more  in  harmony  with  the  instinctive  feeling 
and  judgment  of  cultured  men.  This  is  the  whole 
of  it.  This  is  the  entire  ground  on  which  stand 
the  entire  scientific  world.  Is  it  not  enough  ?  Will 
any  one  start  up  at  this  late  day  to  reprimand  the 
entire  scientific  world  for  accepting  and  relying  on 
the  great  Newtonian  hypothesis  of  gravitation  with 
unlimited  boldness  ?  And  shall  any  venture  to 
blame  the  theist  for  accepting  and  relying  upon  the 
Theistic  hypothesis  for  precisely  the  same  reasons 
somewhat  intensified  and  enlarged  ?  Confident  as 
the  astronomer  may  be  that  the  clew  which  has  not 
failed  him  yet  in  his  wide  terrene  and  stellar  wan- 
derings, would  not  fail  him  though  his  travels  should 
go  on  to  cover  all  the  fields  of  Nature  with  foot- 

19 


290  EIGHTH  LECTURE. 

prints,  still  what  he  feels  is  not  such  a  confidence 
as  every  sane  man  has  that  there  is  not  a  thing  em- 
braced by  space  whose  origin  the  hypothesis  of  a 
God  will  not  completely  account  for  with  infinite 
ease.  This  latter  is  the  confidence  of  absolute, 
axiomatic,  immeasurable  knowledge.  The  other  is 
merely  the  confidence  of  faith  from  a  large  induc- 
tion of  particulars.  It  is  vastly  probable  —  I  con- 
sent to  say  morally  certain  —  to  at  least  philosophers, 
that  this  key  of  gravity  will  unlock  the  whole  as- 
tronomical movement :  it  is  mathematically  certain 
to  the  entire  sweep  of  humanity  that  this  key  of 
Theism  will  unlock  and  explain  as  to  origin  all  the 
latitudes  and  longitudes  of  Nature.  Further,  in 
respect  to  simplicity,  and  sureness,  and  beauty,  and 
accord  with  the  convictions  and  traditions  of  man- 
kind, especially  the  best  part  of  mankind,  the  The- 
istic  hypothesis  has  far  more  advantage  over  the 
law  hypothesis  than  the  Newtonian  has  over  the 
Ptolemaic  and  Cartesian.  And  yet  what  a  confi- 
dence the  Newtonian  displays  !  He  threads  great 
sciences  on  his  doctrine  like  so  many  habitable 
globes.  He  sails  away  on  his  doctrine  through  the 
uttermost  depths  of  heaven  as  on  some  voyaging 
sun.  I  will  neither  praise  nor  blame  him.  But 
this  I  say,  that  if  he  is  warranted  in  founding  him- 
self so  mightily  on  that  doctrine  of  gravity,  we  are 
warranted  in  founding  ourselves  even  more  mightily 
on  the  Doctrine  of  God.  We  have  the  best  of  coun- 
tenance in  making  Theism  the  basis  of  reasoning 


TOTAL  SCIENTIFIC  IMPORT.  291 

and  action  to  any  extent.  We  have  no  reproaches 
to  fear  from  consistent  science,  though  we  proceed 
to  rest  upon  that  Theism  castles,  palaces,  cities,  em- 
pires, heavens  of  inferences  and  interests,  answer- 
ing to,  but  far  nobler  than,  those  which  Astronomy 
confidently  reposes  on  her  great  hypothesis. 

A  word  more.  For  what  would  a  man  reject 
this  vastly  superior  Theism  ?  What  does  he  gain 
by  putting  aside  this  account  of  Nature  which  car- 
ries itself  so  regally,  and  before  whose  sheaf  all 
other  sheaves  bow  down  —  the  account  which, 
while  perfectly  sufficient,  and,  to  say  the  least,  a 
priori  as  credible  as  any,  is  greatly  the  simplest,  the 
surest,  the  sublimest,  the  safest,  the  most  salutary, 
and  the  most  suited  to  the  convictions  and  tradi- 
tions of  mankind  ?  Is  he  afraid  of  a  personal  God 
—  lest  that  sharp-sighted  Omnipotence  should  bring 
him  to  account  for  his  conduct  ?  Pray,  in  what 
respect  would  he  be  better  off  with  a  Nature  con- 
structed by  law !  Does  the  law  scheme,  neces- 
sarily, do  away  with  sin  ?  Does  it  do  away,  neces- 
sarily, with  responsibility  for  sin  ?  Does  it,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  even  lessen  the  avalanche  of  pen- 
alty which  the  sinner  may  have  to  encounter? 
Not  at  all.  All  these  things  are  just  as  possible, 
and  may  be  just  as  great,  under  the  one  system  of 
explanation  as  under  the  other.  If  a  mist  of  atoms 
can  really  make  this  wonderful  Nature  which  no 
man  could  make  unless  his  faculties  of  wisdom  and 
power  were  infinitely  expanded  —  that  is,  if  this 


292  EIGHTH  LECTURE. 

mist  seethes  practically  with  an  infinite  efficiency, 
and  its  forces  and  laws  taken  together  are  fully 
equivalent,  so  far  as  the  production  of  results  is 
concerned,  to  that  infinite  power  and  wisdom' which 
the  Theistic  hypothesis  ascribes  to  God  —  then  we 
have,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  a  material  God. 
We  have  matter  practically  almighty  and  all-wise. 
It  can  do  whatever  an  almighty  and  all-wise  Person 
could  do. 

Now  if  men  choose  to  call  this  wonderful  thing 
by  the  name  of  Law,  let  them.  If  they  choose  to 
say  it  is  unintelligent,  let  them.  But  let  them  not 
deceive  themselves  with  names.  What  they  actu- 
ally have  is  something  that  can  do  things  after  a 
manner  of  unlimited  wisdom  and  power.  What 
they  actually  have  is  something  that  can  arrange 
and  adapt  and  exquisitely  fashion  just  as  if  an  in- 
finite intelligence  and  discrimination,  as  well  as 
force,  presided  over  the  work.  In  short,  it  is  prac- 
tically the  equivalent  of  a  God,  if  not  God  Himself. 
Such  a  Dynamic  as  this,  whatever  name  it  bears,  is 
abundantly  sufficient  for  everything.  It  can  govern 
men  as  well  as  make  them — it  can  treat  them  ac- 
cording to  character  as  well  as  give  them  character 
—  it  can  give  us  a  glorious  Bible  in  words  as  well 
as  a  glorious  Bible  in  worlds — in  short,  it  can  do 
whatever  Theism  commonly  attributes  to  God. 
Which  is  the  harder  —  to  make  the  arithmetical 
machine  of  Babbage,  or  to  use  it  as  it  ought  to  be 
used  ?  No,  the  Something  that  can  make  a  man 


TOTAL  SCIENTIFIC  IMPORT.  293 

after  a  manner  of  infinite  wisdom,  can  go  on  to  deal 
with  him,  when  made,  after  a  manner  of  infinite 
wisdom.  The  potential  Fog-Bank  which  is  able  to 
make  men  who  can  treat  other  men  according  to 
character,  can  itself  treat  them  after  the  same  man- 
ner of  discrimination.  So  what  do  our  atheists 
gain  ?  What  is  their  compensation  for  espousing 
the  hypothesis  that  is  the  most  intricate  and  far- 
fetched and  uncertain  and  hazardous  and  hurtful 
and  homely  and  hostile  to  the  convictions  and  tra- 
ditions of  mankind?  Their  costly  scheme — for 
the  sake  of  which  they  are  at  the  trouble  and  un- 
reasonableness of  such  holocaust  sacrific  3  of  philos- 
ophy and  taste  and  utility  and  venerable  traditions 
—  their  costly  scheme  leaves  men  open  to  just  as 
formidable  possibilities  as  does  Theism.  The  sin- 
ner has  just  as  much  reason  to  tremble  before  that 
astute  Cauldron  of  mechanical  and  chemical  forces 
that  can  make  such  a  universe  as  this  as  he  has  to 
tremble  before  a  personal  God.  Those  are  won- 
derful orbs  yonder  —  this  is  a  wonderful  earth  here 
with  its  packed  life  —  even  this  single  humanity  of 
ours,  body  and  soul,  is  an  inexhaustible  wondei?  to 
the  most  dynamical  philosophy  —  full  well  do  we 
know  that  the  grandest  man  would  have  to  de- 
velop into  infinite  proportions  of  intelligence  and 
power  before  he  could  produce  such  an  astounding 
universe  as  we  behold  —  and,  what  I  have  to  say 
is,  that  the  primal  Fire-Cloud  wrhich  can  organize 
such  a  universe  as  this  which  only  an  infinite  man 


294  EIGHTH  LECTURE. 

could  organize,  can,  like  such  a  man,  practically 
discriminate  between  our  righteousness  and  un- 
righteousness, and  can,  like  him,  pursue  that  un- 
righteousness as  an  unutterable  Nemesis  through 
all  space  and  duration.  Such  a  crafty  Nebula  is  as 
fearful  as  God  —  only  it  can  neither  love  nor  be 
loved.  It  is  as  fearful  as  God  to  a  sinner  —  though 
the  atheist  will  never  believe  it,  but  will,  while 
treating  law  as  if  almighty  and  all-wise  for  fash- 
ioning things,  treat  it  as  all-weak  and  all-foolish  for 
the  purpose  of  moral  government. 


A    REMARKABLE    BOOK. 


ECCE    CCELUM; 

OR, 
PARISH     ASTRONOMY. 

BY  KEY.  E.  F.  BURR,  D.D. 

I  vol.  16mo,  198  pp.    Price,  $1.25.    New  Edition.    Sent  prepaid  by  mail 
on  receipt  of  price. 


NICHOLS    AND    NOYES, 

117    WASHINGTON    STREET,    BOSTON. 


The  Publishers  request  special  attention  to  the  following  un- 
solicited testimonials,  which  hare  been  received  from  sources 
worthy  of  regard. 

From  Rev.  W.  A.  Stearns,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  President  of  Amherst  College. 
"  I  have  read  it  with  great  profit  and  admiration.  It  is  a  grand 
production,  — very  clear  and  satisfactory,  scientifically  considered ; 
very  exalted  and  exalting  in  spirit  and  manner ;  and  exhibiting  a 
wealth  of  appropriate  emotion  and  expression  which  surprises  me. 
May  the  life  and  health  of  the  author  be  spared  to  show  still 
further  that  God  is  and  that  His  works  are  great,  sought  out  of 
them  that  have  pleasure  therein." 

From  Rev.  Horace  Bushnett,  D.D. 

"  I  have  not  been  so  much  fascinated  by  any  book  for  a  long 
time,  —  never  by  a  book  on  that  particular  subject.  It  is  popu- 
larised in  the  form,  yet  not  evaporated  in  the  substance,  —  it 
tingles  with  life  all  through,  —  and  the  wonder  is,  that,  casting  off 
so  much  of  the  paraphernalia  of  science,  and  descending,  for  the 
most  part,  to  common  language,  it  brings  out,  not  so  much,  but  so 
much  more  of  the  meaning.  I  have  gotten  a  better  idea  of  Astron- 


Dmy,  as  a  whole,  from  it  than  I  ever  got  before  from  all  othei 
sources,  —  more  than  from  Enfield's  great  book,  which  I  once  care- 
fully worked  out,  eclipses  and  all. 

"  I  trace  the  progress  made,  and  the  methods  of  the  same,  and 
seize  on  the  exact  status  of  things  at  the  point  now  reached." 

From  the  Bibliotheca  Sacra. 

"  This  is  a  remarkable  book,  —  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
which  has  proceeded  from  the  American  press  for  a  long  time.  It 
lifts  the  reader  fairly  into  the  heavens  and  unveils  their  glories. 
The  presentation  is  very  full  though  concentrated,  very  clear  and 
animating,  —  with  a  command  of  language  and  a  glow  of  eloquence 
which  is  quite  extraordinary.  The  last  lecture  is  hardly  less  than 
a  Te  Deum.  The  only  adverse  criticism  which,  on  reading  the 
preparatory  lecture,  we  were  inclined  to  make,  was,  that  the  almost 
impassioned  eloquence  with  which  it  opened  would  have  bean 
more  impressive  further  on,  and  after  the  imagination  had  been 
excited  by  the  facts.  But,  after  finishing  the  last  Lecture,  we 
could  not  wonder  that  a  mind  so  full  of  the  great  facts,  and  of  the 
emotion  which  they  necessarily  kindle,  should,  on  seeing  his  own 
parish  charge  assembled  to  listen,  break  forth  in  strains  which  none 
but  a  mind  fully  roused  by  his  theme  and  his  audience  would 
have  been  able  to  utter.  No  person  can  read  through  this  volume 
without  mental  exaltation,  and  a  conviction  of  the  peculiar  ability 
of  the  author." 

From  the  New  Englander. 

"  It  presents  an  admirable  resume"  of  the  sublime  teachings  of 
Astronomy,  as  related  to  natural  religion,  —  a  series  of  brilliant 
pen-photographs  of  the  Wonders  of  the  Heavens,  as  part  of  God's 
glorious  handiwork.  The  first  five  lectures  pass  the  science  in 
rapid  review ;  the  last  treats  of  the  Author  of  Nature,  as  related  to 
its  leading  features.  There  is  not  a  dry  page  in  the  volume,  but 
much  originality  and  vigor  of  style,  and  often  the  highes*  elo- 
quence. It  is,  withal,  evidently  by  an  author  at  home  in  his  sub- 
ject, not  "  crammed  "  for  the  task.  It  affords  a  fine  example  of 
what  an  intelligent  pastor  can  do,  outside  of  his  pulpit,  towards 
training  ail  intelligent  people,  and  by  imparting  to  them  Nature's 


3 


teachings,  leading  "through  Nature  up  to  Nature's  God,"  —  the 
God  of  Revelation  as  well.  To  such  a  book  the  author  need  not 
hesitate  to  affix  his  name." 

From  Rev.  A.  P.  Peabody,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Preacher  to  Harvard  University, 
and  Plummer  Professor  of  Christian  Moi*als. 

"  Permit  me  to  thank  you  for  a  work  in  which  you  have  effected 
a  rare  union  of  scientific  accuracy,  eloquent  diction,  and  rich  de- 
votional sentiment.  It  is  attractive,  instructive,  and  edifying.  It 
appears  at  a  time  when  science  needs,  as  never  before,  to  be 
redeemel  and  sanctified  by  faith  in  Him,  in  whom  are  hidden  all 
the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge.  And,  best  of  all,  it  does 
not  make  Religion  cringe  to  Science,  but  maintains  her  hi  that 
queenly  status  which  is  the  only  position  she  can  hold  The  book 
must  do  great  good,  and  I  heartily  congratulate  you  as  its  author." 

From  Rev.  S.  H.  Hall,  D.D. 

"Ecce  Coelum  is  much  more  than  a  book-success.  It  will  be 
honored  as  a  most  timely  and  admirable  treatise  to  put  into  the 
hand  of  thoughtful  young  people,  to  '  turn  off  their  minds  from 
vanity,'  and  lead  them  to  God." 

From  the  New-  York  Evangelist. 

"  This  unpretending,  though  elegant  little  volume,  gives  a  most 
admirable  popular  summary  of  the  results  of  Astronomical  Sci- 
ence. The  author  has  evidently  mastered  his  subject,  and  he  has 
presented  it  in  a  most  striking  manner,  adapted  to  the  comprehen- 
sion of  the  common  reader,  and  enriched  with  pertinent  illus- 
trations. The  book  is  perhaps  the  most  fascinating  treatise  on  the 
science  which  has  been  published  of  late  years,  ranking  indeed 
in  many  respects  with  that  of  the  late  lamented  and  eloquent 
Mitchell.  One  of  its  excellencies  is  that  it  does  not  hide  God 
behind  his  own  creation.'" 

From  the  Religious  Herald. 

"  A  New  Book,  and  one  that  is  a  book,  worth  its  weight  in 
gold  or  diamonds,  for  it  is  full  of  gold  and  precious  gems,  —  dia- 
monds of  law  and  fact,  —  truths  beaming  with  celestial  light.  J 


•peak  of  '  Ecce  Coelum/  from  the  pen  of  Rev.  ENOCH  F.  BUKR, 
D.D.,  of  Lyme,  Conn.,  published  by  Nichols  &  Noyes,  Boston,  a 
duodecimo  of  198  pages.  Mr.  Burr  modestly  signs  himself  '  A 
Connecticut  Pastor/  but  some  college  has  rent  the  vail  and  written 
out  his  full  name,  and  added  to  it  a  D.D.  So  much  the  better  for 
Connecticut  and  for  the  world.  Such  light  as  the  book  contains 
ought  not  to  be  under  a  bushel. 

''  These  six  Parish  Lectures  are  a  masterly,  vivid,  easy,  sub- 
lime presentation  of  the  enchanting  facts  of  Astronomy.  They 
are  adapted  to  all  classes,  —  the  learned  and  the  unlearned.  The 
astounding  glories  of  the  skies  are  tempered  to  our  humble  eyes. 

"  Let  all  read  the  book,  old  and  young.  Let  it  be  found  in 
every  school,  in  every  library,  and  .in  every  home  where  wisdom 
is  invoked.  Read  it,  and  you  will  exclaim,  what  glorious  light  it 
sheds  from  the  throne  of  God  upon  the  lonely  pathway  of  man !  " 

From  C.  H.  Bakbaugh,  of  Pennsylvania. 

"It  is  certainly  a  wonderful  little  book.  How  the  world 
shrinks  into  an  atom  as  we  follow  the  lofty  soarings  of  the  '  Con- 
necticut Pastor.'  I  never  knew  rightly  what  Dr.  Young  means 
by  saying,  '  an  undevout  Astronomer  is  mad ; '  but  I  now  see  and 
feel  the  power  and  beauty  of  the  expression.  Such  a  book  cannot 
be  read  without  laying  upon  us  the  responsibility  of  a  new  charge 
from  heaven.  After  contemplating  such  grandeur,  we  instinctively 
exclaim,  '  What  is  man  that  Thou  art  mindful  of  him  ?  '  " 

From  Eon.  S.  L.  Selden,  Late  Chief  Justice  of  New  York. 
"  A  beautiful  book.  I  admire  it  for  the  elegance  of  its  style,  as 
well  as  for  the  lucid  and  able  manner  in  which  it  presents  the 
noblest  of  the  sciences.  It  will  prove,  I  think,  very  valuable,  not 
merely  for  the  knowledge  it  communicates,  but  as  suggestive  of  a 
line  of  noble  and  elevated  thought.  And  I  am  much  pleased  to  see 
from  the  numerous  notices  which  have  come  under  my  observa- 
tion that  my  estimate  is  confirmed  by  many  persons  of  the  first 
capacity  for  judging.  To  have  written  a  work  which  receives 
and  deserves  such  very  high  praise  from  scholars  and  men  of 
science  cannot  but  be  a  source  of  great  gratification  to  the 
author." 


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Religion  and  Life.    By  JAMES  REED.    1  vol.  16mo,  pp.  85. 
Price  75  cents. 

Contents. 


Introduction. 

How  to  think  of  God. 


The  Way  of  Life. 
The  Life  Hereafter. 


How  to  think  of  the  Scriptures. 
Our  Eternal   Homes.     By  A  BIBLE  STUDENT.    1  vol. 
18mo.     Price  $1.25. 

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I.  What  is  Heaven. 
II.  Guardian  Angels. 
III.  Heavenly  Scenery. 


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VI.  Man's  Book  of  Life. 
VII.  Infants  in  Heaven. 


IV.  Death  the  Gate  of  Life. 

"  This  is  a  charmingly  written  book,  on  a  very  important  sub- 
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Life :  its  Nature,  Varieties,  and  Phenomena.  By 

LEO  H.  GEINDON,  Lecturer  on  Botany  at  the  Royal  School  of 
Medicine,  Manchester.     1  vol.     8vo.     Price  $2.25. 

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....  Science  without  religion  is  empty  and  unvital.  True 


wisdom,  finding  the  whole  world  expressive  of  God,  calls  upon  us 
to  walk  at  all  times  and  in  all  places  in  the  worship  and  rever 
ent  contemplation  of  Him."  —  Preface. 

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